


For Family

by Ditto_22



Series: All Stars Burn as One [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Cathar, Found Family, Gen, Jedi Culture, Mandalorian Culture, Order 66, Protective clones, Sarrish, Umbara (Star Wars), clone culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:48:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 32,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24631081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ditto_22/pseuds/Ditto_22
Summary: Kisar has spent the first two years of the war getting to know her clone battalion. After huge personal losses in the 212th leave her in intense mourning, Kisar decides to protect what is left of her family herself. As the duties to her family and to the Republic begin to clash, Kisar must decide where her loyalties lie for the sake of the galaxy as Spar's hold on Mandalorian Space increases and a dark conspiracy begins to unveil itself within the Republic.
Relationships: 212th Attack Battalion & Original Character(s), Boil & Waxer (Star Wars), CC-2224 | Cody & CT-7567 | Rex, CC-2224 | Cody & Original Character(s), CC-2224 | Cody/Original Female Character(s), Clone Force 99 | Bad Batch & Original Female Character(s), Kaddak & Original Character, Original Character & Original Character
Series: All Stars Burn as One [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1707715
Comments: 49
Kudos: 46





	1. Chapter 1

20 Years Before the Battle of Yavin and 980 Years After the Ruusan Reformation

Kisar was no longer the inexperienced reckless youngling she was when she first reentered the Jedi Order as a Padawan. Now she was an experienced reckless youngling and feared Padawan Commander of the legendary 212th Attack Battalion. 

Kisar was no longer among the extreme youngest of the Padawan Commanders either. At 12-years-old, she was definitely still on the lower end of the spectrum for age but as the war went on, more and more Jedi died which resulted in younger Padawans being the only ones left to be Commanders and apprentices. Baby-faced younglings were becoming the horrifying new normal as Commanders.

On the bright side, Kisar had the pleasure of watching Cody awkwardly dance around Keeja Virtus, the baker Kisar saved from gang members, as the two humans tried to hide their obvious attraction to each other in vain. 

Kisar had eventually been caught sneaking out to Keeja’s bakery by her Master, Obi-wan Kenobi, but after convincing him that her relationship to Keeja was the same as his relationship to the diner owner Dex, she was given his blessing to continue visiting her. As a consequence of Kisar’s plentiful visits to Keeja, Cody and some of his brothers came with to “look out for their Jedi,” but Kisar knew it was really because of their incorrigible sweet tooths. 

Keeja was probably the best baker and overall cook in the galaxy and Kisar was not at all biased for saying that. Members of the 212th, and occasionally Rex and a few trusted members of the 501st’s Torrent Company, were regular visitors to Keeja’s bakery. Kisar worried about the baker’s profits after giving up so much free food to the clones in a time of economic crisis. Keeja assured the Padawan that she no longer had to pay protection money because of the presence of the intimidating looking clone troopers that hung around her store and that made up for the monetary loss from supplying them with baked goods. 

With that reassurance in mind, Kisar had no qualms about spending as much time as she could with Keeja as the woman treated her as if she were a normal pre-teen girl instead of a Padawan Commander with a violent past and ominous future because of some stupid prophecy. Keeja always was there to listen to Kisar rant or simply offer a shoulder for the Padawan to cry against. 

That was why Kisar found herself trudging to Keeja’s store with tears in her eyes as she struggled to keep upright from the intense sorrow taking over her body.

When Keeja opened the door to see the miserable sight of the Padawan, she did not hesitate to let her in and wrap her in a blanket from her apartment that was on top of her store in the building. Kisar sat down on the woman’s couch and stared blankly ahead at the apartment’s wall while Keeja began to grab her some tea to drink.

The human woman returned with the warm cup of tea and sat down next to Kisar. She gave the Padawan a one-armed hug around her shoulders. “What happened, sweetstuff?” 

Kisar numbly kept staring ahead as she answered, “Waxer’s dead.”

Keeja sucked in a shocked breath, “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Is it okay if I just tell you what happened? I think that’ll be easiest.” Kisar admitted while finally turning to look at Keeja.

“Of course. Just do whatever you’re most comfortable with.”

“Okay,” Kisar sighed as the memories flooded back to her, “We were assigned to take back Umbara for the Republic and the 212th and 501st were both there as ground forces to assist us.”

***

_Kisar looked out into the dark landscape of Umbara in distaste. It felt so oppressive in the Force but she knew it would be close-minded of her to judge the planet so harshly. Master Kenobi had taught her that every people and species were different with different needs and preferences for their homes. Kisar preferred the urban cityscape and constant flow of people and excitement and apparently the Umbarans preferred dark atmospheres and creepy luminescent flora._

_“This place gives me the creeps.” Boil muttered unabashedly beside her and Master Kenobi. Kisar smirked at her friend’s usual grumpiness. Leave it to Boil to voice his disgust when no one else would._

_“Yes, well, the sooner we take back Umbara, the sooner we can get off this planet for your comfort, Boil.” Master Kenobi drawled wryly._

_Kisar snickered alongside Waxer and Wooley at Boil’s sullen look at Master Kenobi’s teasing response. The mustached trooper shot them all a glare from behind his helmet but Kisar could sense there was no heat behind it. Everyone had been on edge ever since they arrived planetside and Boil knew they were trying to lighten the mood._

_Kisar couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was going to go terribly wrong on Umbara but she didn’t know what it was yet._

_“I have a bad feeling about this.” She muttered before helping her Master prepare for their first battle with the Umbarans._

***

“If I had known what was going to happen, I wouldn’t have tried to ignore the warnings the Force seemed to be screaming at me.” Kisar moaned as she covered her face with her hands in shame.

Keeja rubbed her back and shoulders to comfort her, “You can’t possibly put such a burden on your shoulders. Even Jedi are fallible, Kisar.”

The Padawan winced at Keeja’s accidental poor choice of words. “That’s the thing, Kee, it was the fallibility of a Jedi that caused Waxer’s death.” 

The baker did an admirable job of hiding her horror on her face but it still leaked into her tone a bit, “There’s a lot more you need to tell me isn’t there?”

Kisar nodded and continued miserably, “Master Kenobi had sensed something was off too so he contacted Anakin to see what was going on on his end of the campaign. To his surprise, it was a Jedi Master by the name of Pong Krell who answered as Skywalker’s temporary replacement. Rex also felt weird in the Force whenever we saw him in the hologram calls but we still couldn't have expected the _horrible_ things Krell was doing to the 501st. We couldn’t have predicted the even worse thing Krell was about to do either.”

***

_Waxer was about to leave with his platoon to help Master Krell with some Umbarans that had apparently decided to wear clone armor in an attempt to deceive the Republic forces. The sense of wrongness in the Force was not abating as Kisar approached her friend to bid him farewell._

_“Waxer! Wait up!” She called out as he obediently waited for her to catch up with him and his platoon._

_“What is it, kid? Something wrong?” Waxer questioned in concern as his helmeted head scanned her for any injuries or signs of sickness out of habit. He and Boil were definitely the most outgoing troopers when it came to showing their care for Kisar’s wellbeing._

_Kisar hesitated as she wondered how to explain to Waxer that the Force just felt wrong and that something bad was probably going to happen, “I have a….have a bad feeling about all of this. Just promise me you’ll be okay?”_

_Her friend tilted his helmet in confusion, “Freaky Jedi magic feeling of something going bad or just normal feeling of something going bad?”_

_Kisar weakly laughed at his attempt of comforting her, “Little bit of both.”_

_“Okay, kid. I’ll be careful and hey, when I get back we can maybe call Numa again when we get back to base? The little biter is always excited to see you, you know. She brags to all of her friends that she has a Jedi friend.” Waxer promised her before beginning to leave again._

_Kisar tentatively called out to his departing form, “May the Force be with you!”_

_Waxer halted his steps at the Jedi phrase that Kisar had never used on him before, he turned back to look at his Jedi gravely, “And may the Force be with you as well, kid.”_

***

“That was the last time I ever spoke to him before he was killed.” Kisar admitted quietly while sipping the tea that Keeja gave her. “I felt his death in the middle of the battle. He was shot in the chest by his brothers after Krell tricked his platoon to attack the 501st. Because of our bond, I felt _everything_ that he felt in his last moments. He was so sad and betrayed. Waxer was in so much pain and I wasn’t there with him!”

“It’s not your fault, Kisar.” Keeja soothed as she brought the crying girl’s face into her chest and began to rock her back and forth as she sobbed openly.

Kisar sat there in Keeja’s arms until a knock could be heard from the door to the shop downstairs. Keeja quietly promised to be right back before going down to answer the door. 

The Cathar Padawan’s pointed ears could pick up the voice of a clone talking to Keeja but she was too tired and out of it to recognize which clone was downstairs. She heard two pairs of footsteps go up the stairs into the apartment but didn’t bother to look up to see who was with Keeja.

“Kisar? Cody’s here to bring you back to the Jedi Temple.” The baker crooned as she walked closer to the miserable cub.

Kisar groaned and turned over so that she wasn’t facing the two humans. The last place she wanted to be was in the Jedi Temple while she was feeling such intense emotions. 

Cody’s firm but soft voice stopped her from completely ignoring them, “Kid, I’ll carry you there if I have to.”

“I don’t have enough control over my emotions to go anywhere near another Jedi at the moment, Cody. I could get in trouble approaching them like this.” Kisar mumbled as she traced the wrinkles of the couch with her finger.

“I know, kid. I’ll help you calm down on the way there. Let’s go.”

Kisar shook her head no stubbornly and sunk more into the couch and turned her head from Cody so she wouldn’t see his increasingly stern body langauge anymore. 

“That was an order, Padawan.” That was her last warning and Kisar knew it but she wasn’t in the mood to be agreeable. 

She yelped as she was suddenly scooped up into Cody’s unyielding armored embrace and carried out of Keeja’s apartment. The baker watched them go with a sad expression and yelled to Kisar that her door was always open as a farewell. Cody set a brisk pace as he gripped his squirming hostage cub to his chest.

“Cody! Let me go!”

“I won’t let you go until I’m sure you’re going to behave.” He informed her.

“Why should I behave?! Everyone expects me to act like nothing happened and move on but I won’t do that to Waxer! I loved him!” Kisar howled as she struggled against the clone’s superior strength. She was shocked when Cody set her down but didn’t relinquish his hold on her arms.

The Commander had his helmet on but Kisar spent enough time with people in helmets to recognize his body language as mournful. His hands were shaking as he gripped her and his visor was looking right at her to show he meant what he said.

“So did I! But the only way we can honor Waxer is to not give up and keep fighting!”

Kisar hissed, “What good does that do? We’ll just eventually join him in the afterlife too! Why do we have to fight? Why can’t we have normal lives, Cody? It’s not fair!”

“No it’s not! None of this is fair or okay, kid. The Republic won’t make any changes for either of us until the war is over and even then it still might be bad. We just have to be good soldiers until then to prove to them that we deserve the ability to choose. Am I understood?”

“Yes, sir.” Kisar muttered miserably and didn't try to run away when Cody let go of her so that she could walk back to the Temple willingly.

Cody had a point but the fact that they were fighting for a government that really didn’t give a kark about the Jedi or the clones under their command left a bitter taste in the Padawan’s mouth.

Little did Cody know, Kisar had taken his words as inspiration for the first step of many towards the direction of a new chapter of her life.

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

Kisar was busy comforting a distraught Ahsoka as the two Padawans learned about the disappearance of a Togruta colony on Kiros.

“My people,” Ahsoka sighed, “Where could they have gone?”

“Perhaps the better question is where could they have been hidden?” Master Kenobi ominously supplied as they looked at the planet of Kiros from the Jedi cruiser’s bridge.

Kisar shook her head in frustration. How can so many people disappear in so little time?

Master Kenobi ordered a tired looking Rex to take them to the planet’s surface. Kisar shot him a pitying look after seeing how much Umbara had obviously affected him. 

The 501st Captain had been just as worried for Kisar and even told her that Waxer helped save them in the end by informing the 501st that General Krell had ordered him to take his platoon to attack the so-called disguised Umbarans. It was the needed push for Rex to take over and overthrow and eventually kill the fallen Jedi.

As she moved towards the gunships alongside her Master and some of her men, Kisar felt the fretful presence of Boil right behind her. Her friend had barely left her side ever since Waxer was lost. The normally stony clone trooper had scooped up Kisar protectively into his arms and cried about how he couldn’t lose her too once they were in a private space. 

Boil’s breakdown was not long after Waxer’s death while they were departing Umbara. Kisar was still concerned that her friend was emotionally compromised and would possibly get reconditioned by acting out in front of the wrong officer. 

Master Kenobi broke off her worried thought process by quietly informing Kisar that she would accompany him on a speeder. Kisar obeyed and patted Boil on the arm comfortingly in order to prevent him from following her onto the speeders. 

“You have to go on the AT-RT’s, Boil. Don’t worry, I’ll have Master Kenobi with me and everyone knows he’s the best Jedi that ever lived.” Kisar tried to inject some humor into her soothing comment, but Boil didn't laugh. He did however, sigh and nod to show he understood before turning around. 

Kisar shot him one last concerned look before catching up with her Master and the gunship that held their speeder.

***

Boil hadn’t let up in his hovering behavior the entire time they spent on Kiros. Boil managed to find a way to keep an eye on Kisar either up close or from a distance. When Kisar tensed instinctively at the sight of the Zygerrian slaver, Darts D’nar, she could feel Boil’s on edge gaze from a distance atop his AT-RT. When the bomb went off and took plenty of clones with it, Kisar was the first person Boil checked on as she lay injured on the ground. 

Kisar sensed that Boil was still watching over her-literally watching _over_ her too because of his placement on the AT-RT-while she was being fussed over by Helix with an equally annoying Kix. 

The two medics of the 212th and 501st were well-respected in their abilities, but Kisar considered them to be her personal enemies whenever she was injured. Apparently, even though Kisar healed twice if not three times as fast as most sentients because of her species and Force-sensitivity, the two clone medics seemed to go above and beyond in keeping her under their watch and ever so not loving care. 

Since they seemingly enjoyed making her life a personal hell every time she had a sniffle, Kisar had no qualms about making her displeasure known to the two about their overzealous treatment of her compared to the others.

“Helix, Kix, I’ve got some shrapnel in me sure but it didn't hit anything vital. _Why_ are you spending so much time with me when you could be looking over the more critically wounded?”

Helix tilted his helmeted head in his usual way to show he was not amused with her antics. Kix shook his own head in frustration before pointing to where the critically wounded were. Kisar was a bit chagrined to see that they were indeed being cared for or had already been cared for by the other medics present. 

“You’re still going a little overboard with me though.” Kisar pouted a bit while glaring at the two obviously unapologetic medics. 

“Cry me a river, kid.” Helix shrugged while plucking out shrapnel from her shoulder with tweezers. Kisar winced at every pull, but didn’t ask for any sort of pain-killers as she knew there were plenty of clones surrounding her in the makeshift medical area that needed it more.

Kix began to do the same as Helix except on her thigh. He had to eventually roll up her pant leg a bit and Kisar jumped before swatting at the medic’s hands. “Kix! Can’t we keep my clothes on for this? Helix has already got me close to flashing my boobs with what he did to my shirt, why do you want to do the same to my pants?”

The 501st medic was firm as he refused to back down, “Commander, either you let me do my job conscious or you’ll have no choice but to let me do it unconscious after I stick you with a needle. It’s your choice.”

Kisar fought the urge to shrink back at the medic’s dangerous tone. Kix had hardened a bit after what he went through in Umbara. “I’m sorry, Kix. I just...don’t want anyone staring at _inappropriate places._ You’re all grown men and I’m a 12-year-old girl, it’s just uncomfortable for me.”

The clone sighed as he too looked regretful for his harsh words, “I understand, kid. I’ll be as careful as I can to maintain your modesty while I work on your injuries.”

An injured 501st trooper with a bandaged leg joked beside them, “If it makes you feel better, Commander. Most of us are younger than you if not the same age.”

Kisar chuckled at his admirable attempt to lighten the mood after the tense conversation and made sure to be extra still for the medics as they worked to show she was complying.

“Kix,” She hesitantly started to ask. The medic hummed to show he was listening as he worked away at her thigh and now was moving up into her side. Kisar wasn’t even sure she wanted to know the answer to the question she was about to ask.

“Was anyone _with_ Waxer as he died?”

The medic plucked out a piece of shrapnel a little harshly in a shocked response to her probing. Kisar yelped in pain at his accidental roughness but made sure to not say anything more to give Kix a moment to answer her.

After Helix finished up on her shoulder and respectively left the two of them to talk and also so he could check on more of the wounded himself, Kix sighed and replied, “I tended to him a bit before I realized it was too late to do anything and then I grabbed Rex, who held him in his arms as he died.”

Kisar didn’t know Rex had held Waxer in his last moments, she knew the Captain was there while her friend was dying and gave his last vital words about Krell’s betrayal, but she didn’t realize Rex had gone so far as to hold his 212th brother while he gave his last breaths. “I sensed that something was off, you know. I could’ve done something to stop it, to stop Waxer’s and all of the other trooper’s deaths that died that day but I didn’t. This is all my fault.”

Kix actually gave a low hiss in response to her self-incriminating words, “You listen to me right now, kid. No one here blames you for what happened that day even if you had a bad feeling. Almost all of us had bad feelings about Krell too but we didn’t act before it was too late and we were tricked into killing our own brothers, _your_ men. Do you blame us for that?”

“No! Of course not! That….that would be ridicu-” Kisar gasped before registering that she was proving Kix’s point. 

The medic nodded in satisfaction as he began to bandage up her side, “We in the 501st may not know you as well as our 212th brothers do, but even the newest shinies learn quickly that Commander Kisar is a leader that truly cares for her men. _None_ of us would accuse you of being as low as that Sith-wannabe Krell.”

Kisar still felt some doubt even after Kix’s resolute assurances. The veteran soldier sighed and grabbed her face gently with one of his gloved hands that was bloodied from her own wounds, “You.are.not.Pong.Krell. Repeat after me.”

“I am not Pong Krell.”

“This.is.not.my.fault.”

Kisar opened her mouth to object at that one, but the stern look Kix gave her stopped her before she reluctantly repeated, “This is not my fault.”

Kix stared her down for a few moments before grunting, “It seems Helix and I’s plan needs to come into motion quickly then.”

“What plan?” Kisar questioned warily. It was never good when those two got together and schemed about her.

Kix’s response was to call over Helix and excuse himself from her side with the promise of his 212th counterpart explaining what their plan was.

Once Helix arrived back at Kisar’s side, he continued where Kix left off after a few whispered words exchanged between the two medics. “Commander….how often do you visit the Mind Healers in the Jedi Temple?” 

Kisar frowned in confusion, “Several times whenever we’re on leave there. Why do you ask?”

“Kix and I have noticed that natborns, even Jedi natborns, are more susceptible to PTSD especially if they experienced trauma as a child. We began to search for ways we could assist both you and Commander Tano when you wouldn’t be able to reach the Mind Healers off Coruscant. We specifically thought of a more detailed plan for you because your traumatics experiences began at a much younger age than Commander Tano’s did.”

The Cathar Padawan let out a dry laugh in disbelief, “So you two want to act as our medics _and_ our shrinks now?”

“It’s our job to take care of you isn’t it?” Helix hummed as he fixed her clothing so that it was back to its usual placement and covering everything again. Kisar’s heart gave a clench at their conviction to care for unruly patients such as Ahsoka and herself.

“Sorry for being so difficult sometimes, Helix.” She apologized in recognition for how disrespectful she had been when Helix was just trying to do his duty and keep her alive.

“You’re 12. I read all about how _difficult_ children are at that age in my GAR-issued guide on puberty.” Helix smirked back viciously.

Kisar narrowed her eyes. There was the psychopath she was used to. Medics truly were pure evil. 

***

Cody had kept a careful eye on both Boil and Kisar after Waxer’s death on Umbara while they were on Kiros and later on the _Negotiator_. 

Boil had dealt with his closest brother’s death by latching onto the kid in a protective and possessive way. The clone trooper was becoming openly hostile to shinies or anyone else that didn’t know him before Umbara and Cody knew he had to have a serious talk with his brother.

Kisar, however, appeared to be slowly unraveling at the seams and doubting everything, including herself. The kid had lamented to Cody on several occasions about their state of affairs and placement in the Republic. She had argued to Cody that they were both slaves. 

The clones being the more obvious example with their obedience training and lack of official names and recognized citizenship and consequential rights. 

The Jedi were less obvious because of their seemingly high standing and magnificent Temple, but Kisar claimed they were becoming more and more powerless with every century in Republic affairs. They were glorified pawns that had no real political power and therefore had to play nice to the corrupt bureaucrats of the Senate. 

Cody had shut her rants down quickly after that to make sure she wouldn’t be overheard by the wrong person and get into serious trouble. A small but increasing part of him was starting to agree with her quietly nonetheless. 

Perhaps the clones were not as different from the Jedi as they had previously thought on Kamino. 

“You wanted to see me, sir?” Boil called out while knocking on the door to Cody’s office.

Cody nodded and gestured for him to come in, “We need to talk about how you’re doing after Umbara, Boil.”

His brother stiffened, “I’m _fine_.”

“You could’ve fooled me.” Cody deadpanned. “Remember when I was in a bad place after Kisar was held hostage by Sing and Fett?”

Boil reluctantly nodded to show he was following along.

“You and Waxer came to me when no one else would and prevented me from destroying the 212th from the inside because of my foolishness to ignore that I was emotionally compromised and do something about it. I’m doing this to return the favor.” The Marshal Commander continued.

Boil collapsed into the chair in front of Cody’s desk and sighed while placing his face in his hands. “I don’t know what to do without him, Cody. I can’t lose the kid too.”

“You’re not the only one looking out for her, brother. We may not be Mandalorians like our progenitor was, but I think we did inherit a few Mando traits such as the emphasis on family and clan. The 212th is your clan and family, Boil. We look out for each other _together_ instead of alone.”

The trooper somehow managed to slump even further, “Believe me I know. I just….I can’t...I can’t survive losing Kisar too after Waxer. I will do _anything_ to make sure she doesn’t die.”

“ _Together_ , brother. You’ve got a whole battalion watching you and the kid’s back.” Cody gently but firmly reminded him. 

“Okay, Cody. Together.” Boil conceded while shooting his older brother an exhausted smile that showed the eyebags and stress lines on his face.

Cody nodded in satisfaction and led Boil to the mess hall to get some much needed grub and quality time with his brothers.

  
  



	3. Chapter 3

“You’re doing _what?_ ” Cody hissed.

Kisar didn't back down. “I’m playing a slave to Anakin for the mission alongside Ahsoka. Zygerrians are notorious for liking other feline species as slaves.”

“That’s not exactly comforting, kid.”

“It’s not supposed to be.” Kisar shot back. “I’m just explaining it to you. I don’t know why I feel the need to though.”

Cody narrowed his eyes furiously, “I’ve seen the outfit you’ll be wearing as a slave, kid. Tano is young but you’re even younger. This is _kriffed_ up.”

She sighed, “You think I’m happy about this? I’m just trying to help Ahsoka’s people.”

“What are you not happy about?” Boil cut in questiongly as he walked into Kisar’s quarters.

“ _Nothing_.” Kisar quickly responded while shooting Cody a look to keep quiet. Cody was upset by her role in the upcoming mission, but he had the self-control to not do anything drastic. Boil didn’t have such self-control.

Her fellow Commander looked frustrated but thankfully didn't reveal anything to his brother. 

Boil crossed his arms over his armored chest and leveled a severe glare to Kisar, “Spill. Now.”

Kisar shook her head no and crossed her own arms over her chest.

Boil growled and stalked closer to her. At that moment, they were no longer Padawan Commander and clone trooper, they were two friends with one friend about to possibly maim the other because the other was being stubborn. Kisar gulped at the intensity in his gaze. 

“I don’t want you to do anything that’ll get you in serious trouble, Boil.”

Her friend sighed and consciously relaxed himself, “I know, kid. Just tell me what’s upsetting you and Cody.”

Kisar reluctantly answered, “I will be disguised as a slave and handed over to the Queen of Zygerria by Anakin to gain her favor and trust so that we can figure out where the captive Togrutas are.” 

Both Cody and Kisar watched with bated breath as Boil silently processed what she said. The trooper’s hands clenched into fists a few times and his face harshened in heated anger before disturbingly smoothing out into cold fury. 

“That’s _kriffed_ up!” Boil snarled.

“That’s what I said.” Cody agreed while shaking his head disapprovingly at their Jedi.

Kisar glanced at him in betrayal before switching her attention back to Boil, “It’s for the Togrutas. As a Jedi, it’s my duty to serve and help people and if I have to rescue them from becoming slaves to Zygerrians by putting on a little outfit and looking pretty for the Queen, I’ll do it.”

“Emphasis on _little_ for the outfit, brother. I don’t know what the Jedi were thinking with this mission.” Cody scoffed. 

Boil grunted, “You’re not going.”

Kisar gaped, “There’s not exactly anything you can do to stop me.”

“ _We’ll see_.” The clone trooper countered ominously with a determined glint in his eyes.

Cody peered at the two of them assessingly before holding up his hands to calm them down, “We need to take a minute to think rationally here so that we don’t do anything we’ll regret.”

Kisar exhaled tiredly, “Rex’ll be with me, Boil. So will Obi-wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka. I won’t be alone.”

“I know General Kenobi won’t let me tag along but perhaps he’ll let Cody come with.” Boil pondered.

Cody nodded beside him, “I can talk to the General, brother.”

The clone trooper smiled in relief, “Together?”

The Marshal Commander smiled back in agreement, “Together.”

Kisar blinked at them in confusion. “Something I’m missing here?”

Boil slapped her on the back and led her out to the mess hall with much more cheer than he had minutes before, “Just an esoteric word between Cody and I, kid.”

“I didn’t realize esoteric was even in your vocabulary.” Cody elbowed his brother teasingly as they left together.

***

Kisar took a few deep breaths and walked alongside Obi-wan, Anakin, Ahsoka, Rex, and Cody as they all entered Zygerria in their disguises. 

The market around them reminded Kisar of Hutt Space in its sordidity. Slaves were openly put on display to increase the reputations of their masters. Her pointed ears picked up the sounds of Huttese being spoken and knew that several representatives from Hutt Space, on behalf of the Hutts or otherwise, were there to bring more slaves back to their palaces. 

Ahsoka was walking close to Kisar and wore the same robes that she did. The robes hid the flashy outfits underneath that would only be revealed in front of the Queen to better impress her. 

Kisar shifted uncomfortably at the feeling of the unfamiliar clothing. It wasn’t made to be comfortable or breathable for her, it was made to look good for other people to look at her. 

Cody was looming behind her. To the strangers in the market, his actions would portray him as a threatening presence to keep Kisar in check as a slaver, to Kisar, his presence was a promise to blast anyone who made a grab at her in her slave clothing. 

His Force-signature exuded protectiveness and Kisar relaxed a bit even in the sleazy atmosphere they were in. The robes she wore covered her body but did not cover her ears and face which purposely made her species obvious to observers.

This caused plenty of people in the market, especially the Zygerrians, to openly leer at her and a few approached Rex, Cody, Obi-wan, or Anakin and asked if they were willing to sell her. Every time a man approached their group, Cody would inch closer to Kisar in reaction.

Kisar remembered the horror stories from the female Cathar in Zoruk’s group of their lives as slaves. They were highly desirable as slaves because of how beautiful they were in the eyes of most other species. The male Cathar, in contrast, were considered to be too uncontrollable by most slavers and were largely left alone unless they were sought out as unwilling gladiators. Most of Zoruk’s group were male despite this because of how controlled the lives of the female slaves were.

A slaver may be willing to let a gladiator slip through their fingers, but to let a beautiful female slave escape would be unacceptable. 

Kisar knew that if she wanted to make it off Zygerria as a free Cathar, she’ll need to make sure everything goes to plan.

As she watched Anakin and Ahsoka make a scene per their usual style, Kisar wondered if the plan would even be possible to complete with those two.

For the sake of the Togrutas and her own freedom, she hoped so.

***

This was it. They had been invited to personally see the Queen thanks to Anakin’s “charm” as he liked to claim he had. As they walked into the palace, Kisar did her best to ignore the salivating Zygerrians watching her, but after Cody separated from her when he searched for any signs of the Togrutas alongside Rex and Obi-wan, she was without her usual confidence and strength.

Kisar kept her head down submissively, both as an act and as a self-defense mechanism, as she used her heightened Cathar senses and the Force to evaluate the people in the room they were in.

There were a few slaves serving drinks but high-ranking Zygerrians made up the majority. Anakin obviously took this into account as he made sure to act as dominant and self-assured as possible, two things Zygerrians respected. 

The Queen was outwardly impressed by this and also was already attracted to Anakin at first glance. Kisar fought the urge to barf at their flirting.

Not long after their introduction, Anakin had Ahsoka and Kisar step forward and he took off both of their robes to show off his “gifts” to the Queen.

Ahsoka went for the more disobedient and spirited approach and openly insulted Anakin while Kisar remained silent and kept up an act of submission to fit with their characters. Ahsoka was the new and willful Togruta slave and Kisar was the submissive and experienced Cathar slave. Their team agreed that this contrast would intrigue the Queen and would offer a range of slaves in case she didn’t like one disguised Padawan but liked the other.

True to their prediction, the Queen was pleased with Anakin’s gift. She approached Ahsoka first and gave a few comments about her needing processing before turning her attention to Kisar. Unlike with Ahsoka, the Queen had no negative comments as she appraised the Cathar Padawan.

“ _Very_ pretty and so young yet obviously well-trained.” Queen Miraj purred in approval while petting Kisar’s fur on the side of her face. 

It reminded her far too much of Merrik. 

The Padawan flinched at the Queen’s touches before she could stop herself. The fingers petting through her fur halted and the Zygerrian leader hummed in thought. 

Queen Miraj began to purr again in delight while patting Kisar condescendly on top of her head while addressing Anakin, “A wonderful gift, Lars Quell. I will take both of your slaves as a gift and sign of good will between us.”

Kisar and Ahsoka were led down to a private room where they were promptly and unceremoniously undressed by some female slaves and washed vigorously before being pushed into a medical exam room where they were poked and prodded to look for any health issues. 

Once they were cleared, Ahsoka and Kisar were pushed into a smell yet clean room with the bare essentials such as a pair of mattresses and a bathroom and not much more. Compared to the rooms of most other slaves, their accommodations were luxurious. 

Kisar sighed and leaned into Ahsoka a bit as they sat down on one mattress together. Ahsoka in turn hooked her arm around Kisar and hummed some songs softly in her ear as they took comfort in each other in such a terrifying and high-stakes mission.

“We’ll find them, Ahsoka.” Kisar mumbled while falling asleep.

The Togruta Padawan nodded, “And when we do, these sleemos won’t know what hit them.”

***

Kisar was jerked awake by the sound of footsteps approaching their modest slave room. She elbowed Ahsoka to alert her as well before readying herself for whoever was approaching. The Cathar Padawan acting as a slave got into a kneeling position with her hands tucked in front of her while Ahsoka got back into character by glaring at the nearing footsteps with her sharp teeth bared.

The door opened to reveal a couple of Zygerrian guards who didn’t look very happy to be dealing with Ahsoka and Kisar. They grabbed a complacent Kisar and struggling Ahsoka and dragged the two Padawans to the room they were undressed in and were returned their original slave outfits and were able to take off the thin gowns they were forced into during their medical exams. 

The Prime Minister of Zygerria, a despicable man named Atai Molec, was sneering down at Ahsoka and Kisar as they were thrown on the floor in front of him. 

“Get up!” He growled at them.

Kisar and Ahsoka got up slowly and he gave them a snooty look in response. Kisar could sense her friend’s agitation and sent over waves of comfort over their bond. Ahsoka minutely relaxed in reaction. 

“You,” Molec spoke to the Togruta first, “You’ll be attending your original Master alongside the Queen.”

He turned to Kisar with a cruel smile, “And you, you’ll be attending _me._ ”

***

Kisar was wearing the same stupid slave outfit as she _attended_ Prime Minister Molec. He hadn’t tried anything sexual with Kisar as of yet but she could sense he was planning to. Hopefully by then, they would know where the Togrutas were and would be long gone. 

She turned to see Anakin in his Zygerrian armor and Ahsoka in her slave outfit doing their best to stay in character as Anakin talked to the Queen. Kisar rolled her eyes internally at the flirting gestures and words Anakin kept exchanging with Queen Miraj. 

Her amusement quickly faded once she spotted her Master in the gigantic arena, about to be whipped.

The crowd jeered as Kisar, Anakin, and Ahsoka watched in shock as Obi-wan was pushed into the middle of the arena. He obviously had been beaten and whipped already but it seemed the Zygerrians wanted to publicly whip him now.

“My friends, my good friends, do not fear the Jedi. They are no different from others we have forced into submission, for they have forsaken their ideals to serve a corrupt Senate. Every Jedi has become a slave to the Republic.” Queen Miraj announced to the crowds within the arena as they mocked Obi-wan. “The Jedi Order is weak, and we will help break it.” 

Kisar narrowed her eyes at the Queen’s statement about the Jedi Order’s place in the Republic. It was what she had been saying to Cody and sometimes even Ahsoka for months now. 

The Zygerrian Queen turned to Anakin, “Teach the Jedi his place.”

Kisar watched in horror as Anakin was forced to agree and headed down to the arena. He would have to whip his own former Master and friend for the sake of the mission. 

She listened to the crowd demand Anakin to whip the Jedi and Queen Miraj silenced them so she could order Anakin herself so that he may prove that he was a slaver.

Her gaze went over to focus on Cody and Rex, also in Zygerrian armor, as they looked to be readying themselves for a fight. 

Kisar blew out a breath and tensed herself for a fight as well. Once Anakin or the two clone brothers decided to attack, Kisar would follow their lead and go after Molec while Ahsoka would likely go after the Queen. 

“You leave me no choice, Highness.” Anakin bowed. 

R2 ejected his lightsabers into the arena and Kisar watched as the two Jedi made quick work of the Zygerrian guards surrounding them. 

Rex and Cody began blasting away at the Zygerrian guards as well. The Zygerrians, while they outnumbered the two clone soldiers, were outmatched in terms of skill.

Kisar and Ahsoka nodded to each other before turning around and attacking the two Zygerrian leaders. Kisar swiped at Molec with her claws and Ahsoka took out the guards with her lightsaber that R2 returned to her. 

She managed to get a deep slash on Prime Minister Molec’s face and torso as Ahsoka subdued the Queen. Molec growled up at Kisar but Kisar growled right back with her teeth bared. 

She turned to see more Zygerrian guards pour into the arena that Anakin, Obi-wan, and now Rex and Cody were in. Kisar cursed and was about to try and _convince_ the Queen to call off her guards when electricity coursed through her body from the collar. 

She hissed and pain and managed to fight off unconsciousness long enough to hear the conversation between Molec and Miraj.

“What do you want to do with the Jedi now, your Majesty?” Molec questioned while glaring down at Kisar’s form on the ground.

“Did you not want to keep the Cathar cub as your slave?”

“No,” he answered with disgust while gesturing to his bleeding wounds from Kisar’s claws, “That little scug is too wild even for my tastes. We should place her with the other Cathar slaves so that she will know her place.”

The Queen hummed in approval before ordering some replacement guards to drag Kisar and Ahsoka out of her sight. 

Kisar slipped into darkness as her limp body was thrown into a transport vehicle presumably to bring her to wherever other Cathar slaves were being processed or held.

  
  



	4. Chapter 4

Cody was not having a good day. He and Rex lost Kenobi while trying to escape some Zygerrian guards. Then they were captured while later trying to rescue Kenobi and finish the mission all at once. 

That’s when everything really went south. 

The Zygerrian guards overwhelmed them all in the arena and Cody was electrocuted by whips until he was unconscious.

When he woke up, Cody was in a slave processing factory with Rex and Obi-wan. The Zygerrians had placed them with the Togrutas to be broken down as future slaves. 

His closest brother was working hard right beside him. Cody nudged Rex with his shoulder a bit to get his attention before carefully whispering, “How ya doing, Rex ol’boy?”

The Captain grunted quietly in grim amusement, “Been better, brother, but I can handle it. This is nothing compared to Alpha’s training.”

Cody snorted out a laugh before hastily transforming it into a cough when a Zygerrian guard walked by, “Couldn’t agree more, brother.”

Alpha-17, a hard as nails ARC-trooper who trained Cody and Rex in a special program, was known for his extreme but successful teaching methods. Cody had been using a watered-down version of his own training with Alpha to train Kisar in their sparring sessions. 

His mirth sobered a bit at the thought of the kid. He had no idea where she was or how she was doing. Kisar could be free as a bird or she could be in the clutches of those Zygerrian scum. 

Cody sincerely hoped that wherever she was, she was doing better than him.

***

Kisar groaned as she slowly opened her bleary eyes and stretched her sore limbs only to realize they were chained to a wall. She assessed the ceiling above her and realized that she was in some sort of large enclosed cement area.

Her hearing was the last thing to come to her as she caught on to the fact that there were numerous voices surrounding her in the room. Dozens, if not hundreds, of people were also with her as Kisar confusedly blinked at them. Her eyebrows rose in surprise when she noticed that they all had fur and pointed ears just like her. In fact, they were the same species as her. 

Kisar was in a room full of Cathar slaves. 

The conversation between Queen Miraj and Prime Minister Molec came back to her at that moment. 

Kisar knew that she had to find a way out of there fast otherwise she would end up a slave for the long run alongside her fellow Cathar. 

“Welcome to the Den, Jedi.” A male voice drawled shockingly close to the distracted Kisar.

She jumped and turned to see a Cathar teenager about the same age as Ahsoka right beside her, chained to the wall. 

“Where are we?” She wearily asked him.

He grunted in mocking amusement as he rattled the chains keeping him captive, “Hell.”

Kisar narrowed her eyes as she gritted out between bared teeth, “Which one? I heard Corellia has nine.”

The male Cathar rolled his eyes at her retort, “Cute. But that won’t get you anywhere here.”

“I’ll ask again. Where is _here_?”

He gave her a strange look before muttering, “We’re in the middle of the kriffing Zygerrian Slave Empire, the mother planet itself.”

Kisar nodded in understanding, “So we’re on Zygerria still.”

“Yes, that would be the mother planet wouldn’t it?” The teenager sarcastically shot back.

Usually, Kisar would have had better control over herself because of how hard Cody had worked to temper down her attitude. However, after the terrible past couple of days she had had, Kisar wasn’t in the mood to play nice.

“You know if it’s a battle of insults you want to engage in, I must warn you, I spent a large portion of my life on Nar Shaddaa and picked up a lot of languages to select certain _unfriendly_ vocabulary words from. So I would rethink your decision to be a jerk right now, Mister.”

She heard a snicker on the other side of the teenage boy and looked over to see an older Cathar woman grinning at the boy’s expense and giving her a thumb’s up.

The male Cathar ignored her challenge and the elderly Cathar’s laughter as he was too occupied with staring at Kisar as if she grew two more arms. “You were on Nar Shaddaa?”

Kisar side-eyed him in confusion but bobbed her head in a yes.

“Did you happen to encounter a Cathar man by the name of Zoruk?” He continued while inching closer to her in anticipation.

“Yeah...I stayed with him and some other Cathar until the Republic came and brought them somewhere safe in the Mid Rim in exchange for their help in catching a criminal.” Kisar hesitantly responded while trying to figure out why Mr.Jerk (her new nickname for him) was curious about whether or not she knew Zoruk. Perhaps it was because he knew that the infamous former gladiator lived there and he was some sort of fanboy?

Mr. Jerk actually squealed, which was a disturbing sight given the fact that he was a fairly intimidating Cathar male already at his young age, and scooted even closer to Kisar to the best of his chained up abilities.

“So he’s still alive and in the Mid Rim?!”

“Uhhh...last time I checked he was? But it’s been a couple of years since the last time I saw him.” The Cathar Padawan shrugged then looked back at him inquiringly, “Why do you want to know?”

Mr. Jerk’s face was much more friendly due to his excitement when he answered her, “He’s my father.”

Kisar gaped like a fish for a few moments before shutting her mouth forcibly and then opening it again to grill him with questions, “He never told me or anyone else to my knowledge that he had a kid,” she narrowed her eyes, “Can you even prove you’re Zoruk’s kid? What does he look like?”

He scoffed, “He’s big and scary. Duh.”

She sighed when she remembered just about everyone would know that in the Outer Rim, “Okay, that was on me. I set the bar too low.”

Kisar then paused and analyzed Mr.Jerk’s features to see if there was any family resemblance. To her surprise, she could see Zoruk’s strong jawline and brow in his face alongside the massive physique the boy was already starting to grow into as a teenager. She supposed if anyone would be the unknown son of the feared Cathar, it would be Mr. Jerk based on looks alone. He even inherited his alleged father’s people skills and charm, or lack thereof more like.

“You really are his cub, aren’t you?” She wondered aloud in awe as she gazed upon the son of her old friend and former guardian.

Mr. Jerk puffed up in pride, “My mother was his secret mate while she was a dancer for his master. She named me Toruk in honor of the Cathar tradition of having the child’s name be similar to whichever parent or relative they shared a gender with.”

“Are ya still trying to convince the newbies that yer ol’Zoruk’s cub, Toruk?” The elderly Cathar woman shook her head in exasperation before grinning at Kisar. “Don’t mind his gibberish, girlie. He’s just a little crazy like the rest of us after some recent processing.”

Mr. Jerk, Toruk, deflated and adopted his original bitter expression at the Cathar woman’s blatant disregard of his claims. “It’s true, Nala! We’ve gone over this.” 

Nala ignored him and tilted her head at Kisar, “Ignore him and get some rest, cub. Ya’ll need it for our next session of processing we’re about to be placed into.”

Kisar grunted as she rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck, “I’m used to pain. I can handle it.”

Toruk shook his head and gave Kisar a condescending look, “No, you won’t. Maybe you’re used to a little pain and can handle the whips, but it’s the mental wear and tear that you can’t prepare for. Your _soul_ will be broken.”

“It already is broken.” Kisar mumbled sadly while thinking of Waxer, her family, her clanmates, Master Hosep, the soldiers that were on the _Negotiator_ , and many other deaths in her life.

Nala smirked at her response, “Then maybe ya can survive this with yer mind mostly intact unlike most of us did our first time.”

“When will it start?” Kisar probed the two Cathar slaves.

Toruk responded with an exhausted mutter, “Probably at lunchtime tomorrow. That’s when they usually like to start as it allows the slavers to be well rested so they can have all the energy they need to whip us and turn us into animals.”

Nala nodded at his answer, “Get some rest, cub. If I have to say it again, I’ll have Toruk elbow ya so hard yer lights will go out.”

Kisar obeyed and did her best to fall asleep as she wondered where Cody was and how he was doing.

Wherever he was, Kisar hoped he was doing better than she was.

***

“Wake up, _sunshine._ ” A snide voice cooed in Kisar’s pointed ear. 

The Cathar girl tried to swipe at the owner of the voice but only succeeded in noisily jingling her chains. She settled for hissing at the teenager beside her instead. Supposed son of Zoruk or not, she would punch him in the face if she ever got the chance.

Toruk snickered at her hissing and stuck his tongue out at her, “We’ll see how that attitude survives in processing.”

Kisar opened her mouth to give a snarky response but halted and realized she had to get out of her situation somehow before the processing part. There was no way she was going to be whipped and psychologically tortured without a fight. “Toruk, how do the guards usually transport us to where we will be processed?”

The Cathar male furrowed his eyebrows but answered all the same, “They usually place us into large trucks and then drive us there. Why do you ask?”

Kisar smirked at him with a crazed feral look in her eyes, “I’ve had an eventful life and have had lots of experiences, good and mostly bad, but I’ve never been processed before and I don’t plan on starting today.”

Nala looked shocked but thrilled, “And how are ya gonna pull off avoiding this particular appointment, cub?”

The Cathar Padawan’s smirk widened into a manic grin as her mind began to think of ways to take the Zygerrians off guard (pun intended) and free herself and the other couple hundred Cathar in the room.

“Before I answer that, I’m going to need some details on just how many slaves, Cathar and otherwise, are held in this place.”

***

Kisar felt adrenaline pump through her veins as it reached midday time. The guards were about to enter to collect the Cathar and if everything went to plan, they would be able to subdue them and escape.

As if on cue, the Zygerrian guards entered the room and Kisar counted them off to see if there were few enough for her plan to work. To her delight, only a little over 20 guards were arriving to transport them. Even in her weakened and chained up state, Kisar felt confident in her abilities to take control of the situation.

She gave a mean sneer and called out to a particularly short Zygerrian guard. “Hey, tiny! You actually think you’re qualified for this job? I mean seriously, I’m pretty sure _I_ could overpower you!”

The short Zygerrian growled and stalked closer only for another guard to stop him, “Wait! That’s the Jedi! Keep away from her and let’s just finish this.”

Kisar chortled, “That’s right, _tiny_ . Keep away from the _big_ bad Padawan! Even Jedi younglings are too much for you huh?” 

Despite his colleague’s attempts to stop him, the short Zygerrian charged at Kisar and grabbed her chained body to drag her closer to his snarling face, “Watch your tongue, slave!”

The Cathar Padawan responded by winking and opening her mouth to bite off his closest fingers to her and wrapping her legs around his thrashing body as he howled in pain. Toruk in turn lunged as best as he could to reach the guard’s wrist controller that could unlock their chains.

The other Zygerrians rushed over to take back control of the situation but it was already too late. Toruk had managed to grab the wrist controller with his jaws and dragged the now whimpering guard close enough to him so that his chained arms could press the release button. 

The resounding clanks of hundreds of chains being unlocked filled the ears of both the horrified guards and the ecstatic Cathar. 

Kisar rubbed her wrists to get some feeling back into them before grinning innocently at the whimpering guard now in a fetal position at her and Toruk’s feet. His three fingers that she spat out promptly after biting them off were right next to her sandaled feet within his traumatized eyesight. “This was fun. We’ll have to do this again sometime.”

That was the last thing the guard heard before Toruk brutally stomped his booted foot down on his head repeatedly and ended his life. Zoruk would be so proud. 

The other Cathar had already attacked the other 19 guards and made quick work of them. 

Kisar gave a loud whistle to get the escaping Cathar’s attention, “Listen up! If we want to be permanently free, we’ll have to be smart about this. We’ll have to split up into the assigned two groups now just like we talked about. Group One will focus on freeing the other slaves on the other floors while Group Two will focus on both making a distraction and finding sufficient ships to escape on. There are giant trucks outside that Group Two can use to ram into their fortified wall to enter the city. Group One will use the comlinks that the Zygerrians so kindly lent us to let Group Two know when they’re ready to be picked up. Am I understood?”

The Cathar gave a chorus of acknowledgements and split up into their assigned groups. Nala would be leading Group One while Kisar would be leading Group Two.

Kisar nodded in satisfaction as the two groups began to start their assigned missions.

“Let’s bring the hurt.”

***

Toruk proved himself to be a capable, if an untrained and a bit sloppy, fighter and kept up with Kisar with frightening ease as they dispatched any Zygerrian that got in their way and entered the tank-like trucks. 

There were about ten trucks total for Group Two to commandeer as they drove the trucks towards the nearby city wall. Kisar struggled to control the gigantic vehicle but managed to keep it on track as she pressed the pedal to the metal to accelerate the behemoth into a ramming speed. 

Right before Kisar’s truck made contact with the wall, she let out a hysterical laugh and made eye-contact with an equally exhilarated Toruk as he drove a truck right next to her into the thick stone wall. 

The crashing boom of their metal trucks hitting the formidable stone wall was a sound Kisar would remember for the rest of her life as she totaled the vehicle but managed to remain relatively unharmed. She popped the door off its hinges and jumped out to climb onto the truck’s roof to survey the damage to both the wall and her group.

There was a sizable hole in the Zygerrian’s barrier and Kisar smirked as she observed that everyone in Group Two was still accounted for and alive as of that point. That was good, judging by the shouts of shocked guards, they were about to get some company and would need all the help they can get. 

Kisar grabbed the spear she stole from a guard she killed and raised it proudly in the air as she called the Cathar to fight, “FOR FREEDOM! LET THE WHOLE GALAXY HEAR THE ROAR OF THE GREAT CATHAR!”

They all roared in return and attacked the guards with their own stolen weaponry as Kisar led their charge. 

They were experiencing some heavy losses due to the Zygerrian blaster fire and tanks but Kisar was doing her best to even the playing field through her Force attacks. A few of the tanks were tipped over by a particularly powerful Force-push and Kisar cried out in victory alongside the surviving Cathar. 

Toruk shouted to her that he spotted some ships that were large enough for them to use and Kisar began to head towards where he pointed.

After seeing that Toruk was correct in his observation, Kisar shouted back to the Cathar behind her to get on the ships and that anyone with piloting skills should automatically start them up and fly back to where they were going to meet Group One and whoever they freed. 

Kisar entered a large cargo ship alongside Toruk and the two young Cathar automatically jumped into the cockpit. They smirked at each other before starting the ship and flying to the meeting point. 

“Think Group One succeeded in their mission?” Toruk wondered aloud as they arrived back at the slave prison. 

Kisar smiled in relief when she saw Group One alongside well over a thousand other freed slaves waiting on the platform, “Never doubt a Cathar’s abilities, Toruk.”

“I can’t believe your crazy plan actually worked!” Toruk exclaimed as they and the other ships landed to pick up the other freed slaves. 

“Never doubt a Jedi’s abilities either, Toruk.” Kisar cheekily responded as they loaded up and were about to take off and get far far away from the Zygerrians. “We’ll have to find a way to contact the Republic about what happened so that I can return back to my friends too now.”

Toruk nodded with a friendly smile as he showed how much he had warmed up to her compared to before, “It’s been fun, Jedi.”

“Call me Kisar.”

The male Cathar clasped her shoulder with a pleased look as he couldn't resist purring at the feeling of freedom. Kisar purred back in response.

She hadn’t been this happy in months.

The Cathar were free at last.

  
  



	5. Chapter 5

Kisar was tired. She had successfully organized and completed a slave revolt in the capital of the Zygerrian Empire so she felt validated in her exhaustion.

She had suffered far less serious injuries than the rest of the team. Kisar remembered horrifyingly witnessing the wounds Cody had sustained from whip marks during processing.

To think she was that close to experiencing the same thing made her shudder.

The Marshal Commander had given her an assessing look to make sure she wasn’t hurt before gruffly congratulating her on freeing some slaves and taking out the walls surrounding the Zygerrian capital. 

Kisar only had time to awkwardly thank him before she was shuffled out by a stern Commander Wolffe. 

The one-eyed clone had basically been babysitting her for the last few standard hours and Kisar was losing her patience. Cody had been _processed_ by those Zygerrian slavers and she was just supposed to sit there and do nothing while Wolffe watched her like a hawk?

“Wolffe, can I use the bathroom?” 

The Wolfpack leader didn’t so much as hesitate, “No.”

“Would you rather I pee on the floor like an animal?” Kisar rolled her eyes.

“We have cleaning droids. Go for it.” 

The Cathar Padawan proceeded to engage in a stare-down with the feared clone Commander. The two were battling wills with the trained discipline of Wolffe versus the pre-teenage stubbornness of Kisar. They could have continued for eternity if it wasn’t for the timely intervention of Master Plo.

“Am I interrupting something?” The Kel Dor Jedi Master drawled in amusement as he walked in on their silent clash.

“No, sir.” Wolffe answered in a lot friendlier voice to his General. 

Kisar scoffed at the mood change. And people thought Wolffe was all growls and glares. They obviously hadn’t seen him and his formidable Wolfpack interact with their Jedi General. 

“Master Plo, how is everyone else doing? Are the Togrutas okay?” Kisar questioned anxiously.

The kind Jedi’s eye-coverings crinkled in a smile, “Be at peace, young one. Everyone is either already fine or close to it in recovery.”

Kisar let out a relieved sigh, “Thanks for your help, Master Plo. I wish I could have been there to help too.” 

A clawed hand rested on her shoulder in comfort, “1,367 freed slaves are very grateful that you were there to help them instead.” 

The Cathar girl nodded, “I know…..I just….seeing them with all those whip marks and scars makes me feel so useless. Like I didn’t work hard enough to keep with the mission and save my team.”

“ _Do not_ continue that thought process, Padawan.” Master Plo’s voice turned stern for a moment. “No one in the Republic doubts the legendary will and work ethic of Padawan Commander Kisar. Do you know what some Jedi call you?”

“Disrespectful brat?” Kisar half-jokingly/half-bitterly answered. 

“The _Unceasing Light_ because of how much you’ve gone through and worked through yourself by sheer will.” Master Plo corrected firmly before adding on in a humorous tone, “Though I’ve heard some clone troopers call you _The Jedi Machine_ as you will single-mindedly work towards a goal until you drop dead or finish it.” 

“Some of us call you both Jedi Machine and disrespectful brat,” Wolffe injected with a sharp grin directed towards Kisar. 

The Padawan responded by making an incredibly rude Mando’a hand gesture she learned from Gregor at the Commander out of Master Plo’s sight. She suspected the Jedi Master knew what she was doing anyways but seemed to realize her antics had no real malice in them and therefore didn’t comment on her unJedi-like behavior.

The Kel Dor eventually left to talk to the Togruta leaders again about how they planned to join the Republic. Wolffe stayed resolutely near her and Kisar was about ready to strangle him just to get some freedom and alone time- two things she hadn’t had in over a week.

She was about to voice her annoyance to him but her holoprojector’s beeping stopped her rant before it even started.

Kisar opened up her holoprojector without a second thought and almost dropped it when a very familiar and very unwelcome _Manda’lor_ popped up in holographic form. Wolffe jerked as he began to alert Master Plo that Kisar was being contacted by her old enemy. Kisar didn’t know how he managed to call her but she guessed he had hacked her communications somehow.

Spar hadn’t changed much from the last time she saw him a couple of months ago when he led a Seperatist attack against a Republic planet and forced the 212th and the 41st Elite Corps to retreat and abandon the planet in a devastating loss. He still had the same armor as the first time she saw him as _Manda’lor_ on the _Negotiator_. His helmet was clipped to his side instead of on his head so Kisar got a good look at his vicious grin as he greeted her.

“It’s been a while, cub.”

“I’m not a cub to you last time I checked. I’m pretty sure that even as a baby I was somehow such a big threat to Mandalore to paranoid Mandos like you wasn’t I?” Kisar spat out angrily to the man responsible for so much pain in her life.

The clone known as _Manda’lor_ the Resurrector shrugged his broad shoulders in insulting nonchalance. “Take it as a compliment, _Jet’ika_.” 

“Why are you contacting me?” 

Spar smirked as he answered, “I wanted to let you know that your time is limited now. More and more Mandalorians are recognizing me and not Vizla or Kryze as their leader. However, the fact that you still live has affected my people’s faith in my abilities. Dooku has tried to have me focus on other Separatist matters but I am no longer of their cause. I have decided to honor my name by resurrecting the Mandalorian Empire of old. We will no longer need the help of the Republic or the Separatists. We will be powerful and prosperous once more.”

Kisar shuddered at the thought of the old Mandalorian crusaders returning, “Why are you telling me this? Why not just attack me by surprise like you like to?”

“I’m calling to give you a choice. Like I said before, I will focus all of my efforts on you from now on. You will never get a moment’s rest as I will always be there to kill you. Your men will die under my blade and the blades of my warriors as we come after you. Like your family did, they will die in vain to protect you. You have a choice to stop you and your men’s suffering. Come quietly to me, and I will kill you quickly and painlessly as well as leave the 212th alone afterwards.” 

Wolffe looked at Kisar in alarm as she processed the _Manda’lor’s_ offer. He shook his head vehemently at her and mouthed the word “No” plenty of times but Kisar wasn’t listening. The residual guilt that had weighed on her shoulders ever since she survived Spar’s attack on the _Negotiator_ and found out about her past was on her mind as she thought of protecting her men like they had protected her so often. 

The Cathar Jedi turned back to Spar’s hologram as he expectedly waited for her answer. Before she got the chance to do so, the holoprojector was snatched out of her hands by an enraged Cody.

Her mentor and father-figure glared with pure hatred in his eyes at his fellow clone, “If you ever come close to our Jedi again. You’ll be begging us for a quick death and not the other way around, you hear me?”

Spar chuckled darkly, “You seem so sure of your abilities, CC-2224, even after your recent defeat against us. You are mere slaves going up against warriors. What makes you think you’d have a chance against our full power?”

“I don’t know, the kid seemed to do an okay job with _mere_ clone technicians and civilian contractors against your warriors so it wouldn’t be too absurd to think my _highly trained soldiers_ could do even better, right, _Alpha-02?_ ” Cody retorted with a smug smirk.

Kisar watched them both go back and forth and was about to intervene when Wolffe forcefully covered her mouth with his hand and shook his head grimly at her to signify that she shouldn’t speak.

“You protect the same hypocrites who enslave you!” Spar growled as he jabbed a holographic finger at Cody.

“She’s our Jedi. She belongs to the 212th and you’ll have to go through us to get to her.” Cody firmly stated. “Whether you or even _she_ likes it or not, we’re not abandoning our Jedi and will stick with her to the end.”

The _Manda’lor’s_ lips curled up in a sneer, “So be it. I tried to honor _your_ Jedi by letting her have a death on her own terms but it seems you’re dead set on choosing the hard way of finishing this. I want you to think about my offer when you're surrounded by the corpses of your brothers, _Commander_.”

With that ominous warning, Spar ended their call and his image flickered out on her holoprojector. 

Kisar gasped once Wolffe removed his hand. She turned to Cody with a confused look, “How did you get here so fast? I thought Wolffe contacted Master Plo first and that you were confined to the Medbay anyway?”

He was still glaring at her holoprojector as he answered quietly, “Wolffe contacted General Koon but then he contacted me right after. I figured the Jedi would still be busy dealing with the Togrutas so I came here right away even with my injuries.”

Cody turned to pointedly look around at the lack of Jedi there besides Kisar, “Looks like my predictions were right.”

Kisar huffed and unruffled her clothing a bit. She was back in her regular Jedi clothing, something she used to hate because of its boringness but now after wearing that uncomfortable slave dress, Kisar appreciated its comfort and simplicity. 

“Maybe I should take up his offer.” She mumbled dejectedly while turning away from both clone Commanders in shame.

Cody sucked in an appalled breath as he shook her shoulders with his hands, “ _Never_ listen to that traitor, you hear me?! You think it’ll all be okay if you lay down like a farm animal for slaughter? Do you have any idea just how much that would affect us clones?”

Kisar shook her head no aggressively, “I already lost one family because I existed! I can’t lose another!” 

She clapped her hands over her mouth in horror of what she revealed in public. Kisar slowly looked around to see if anyone else but Cody and Wolffe heard and thankfully saw no one else in the hallway they occupied. That still left Wolffe though. He may have been close to his General to an extreme degree but such openness from the Jedi’s side was unheard of for a reason. Master Plo cared for his men as much as a Jedi loyal to the Jedi Code could.

Kisar went beyond the limits of the Jedi Code in her care for her men. 

Cody was also looking at his clone brother to see how he would react to her outburst. The Wolfpack Commander seemed confused as he glanced between Cody and Kisar and back again. Understanding lit up his eyes as he realized the depth of their connection. How Kisar was family to Cody just like his brothers were.

The one-eyed clone awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck with his hand as he muttered, “I’m not gonna say anything about _that_ but we still need to figure out what to do about the Mandalorian army apparently determined to kill the brat here.”

Cody nodded in earnest gratitude to his brother before continuing on as if nothing happened. He went into his professional Marshal Commander mode and began to strategize with Wolffe about the best methods to defeat the Mandalorians and how they could prepare their men to face off regularly against warriors instead of droids.

Kisar watched the two of them in a daze as invasive thoughts flooded her mind. Even though Cody verbally shut down her idea to just go to Spar to die and end the whole ordeal, another idea began to take form. She still wanted to no longer include her men in the ancient fight of Cathar versus Mandalorians but she was no longer willing to just lay down and die to do so. No, Kisar wanted to go out and she wanted to hunt after Spar instead. Cathar were as much hunters as the Mandalorians were. 

Kisar didn’t know where to start though and she didn’t know if she had the right motivation. Could she really leave Boil when Waxer’s death was so fresh? Could she really leave Cody and no longer feel his steady comfort in the Force?

Kisar had a feeling the decision would be made for her soon if she didn’t decide herself.

“What’s on your mind, kid?” Cody warily asked as he looked at her in carefully hidden concern.

Kisar wanted to tell him but she couldn’t. She knew if she told him, Cody would either stop her or join her- both of which were counterintuitive to her plan.

“Just thinking about how we’ll train the men to deal with Mandos.” Kisar smoothly lied as she guiltily looked away in faked consideration.

Her mentor hummed as he stroked his chin in concentration, “I’ve been putting together a team of _unorthodox_ clones that could help us against Spar’s forces. We could also train with some Mandalorians that serve the Republic. There’s a Mando flight squadron whose leader I think would be more than qualified to help train the 212th.”

Kisar nodded as she wondered if even that would help them. Cody cupped her cheek tenderly, a display of affection that was as rare as Force-sensitivity, and soothed her fears.

“Don’t worry, kid. We’ll get through this. We always do.” 

“I don’t want you to die because of me.” Kisar admitted.

The Marshal Commander’s face creased a bit in disapproval of her anxiety, “We’re soldiers. It’s what we were made for.”

“I was born to die because of my Force-sensitivity, Cody. I haven’t done a very good job of that either.” She joked weakly before looking into his brown eyes with a serious expression.

“Can you promise me one thing?”

Cody frowned but asked what she wanted him to promise her.

“Promise me you’ll be just as bad at dying when you’re supposed to like me? I won’t give myself up and you won’t die without a serious fight. We can hold each other accountable.” Kisar offered him as he considered her words carefully.

“You won’t give yourself up?” He sounded doubtful.

She shook her head no, “Not if you do your best to stay alive too.”

Cody looked pleased at the offer, “You’ve got yourself a deal, kid.”

Kisar smiled at him but was screaming in guilt inside of her head. She just lied to him by choosing her words carefully. She promised not to just let Spar kill her but she left out the details of her own new plan to go after him herself. 

The only way she wouldn’t go through with her plan would be if Cody actually could train the men well enough to fight Mandos and if his new unorthodox group would really take Spar off guard enough to defeat him. 

Kisar hoped she wouldn’t have to betray Cody’s trust in her but she would do so if that was what it would take to protect him like he had done so many times for her.

It was time for Kisar to return the favor to her men. 

For her family.


	6. Chapter 6

Sarrish, the last straw for Kisar. 

It started off as a normal battle for the 212th Attack Battalion but similarly to Umbara, there was an unshakeable feeling that something terrible was about to happen. Kisar, having learnt her lesson after Waxer’s cruel death, did not hesitate to warn both her men and her Master to prepare themselves for the worst.

It wasn’t enough.

It wasn’t even close to enough.

***

Instead of Seperatist battle droids, Spar was there waiting for them. He had dismantled the Seperatist army on Sarrish but acted to the locals as though he was still a part of the Confederacy of Independent Systems in order to lure the Republic in. He set up a situation that would call for the strategic skills of the 212th and their Jedi to take Sarrish out of Seperatist hands in the Republic Outer Rim Sieges. 

The Republic fell into his trap and sent the 212th to Sarrish to be slaughtered. Kisar had been sent with Boil and a platoon to lead an attack from the side to take the _Manda’lor’s_ warriors off guard. 

“I have a bad feeling about this, Boil.” Kisar muttered as she held her lightsaber in a tight grip and cautiously walked across Sarrish’s rocky landscape with her men following behind her.

Her old friend and platoon leader nodded his head grimly, “I’m starting to get the same feeling, kid. Be prepared for anything and try not to die, yeah?”

The Cathar pre-teen chuckled despite her anxiety, “Right back at ya, big guy.”

No sooner after she said that did the faint noise of clanking hit her sensitive ears. The appendages twitched and swivelled around to locate the origin of the noise. She finally pinpointed the sound in front of them. 

Something was heading straight their way.

Kisar grunted in frustration before silently using clone sign language, something Cody had taught her years ago, to order her men to get ready for an attack and to find cover. 

Her men followed her order without question and Boil added to it by directing his men to certain positions for the best possible defensive formation. 

The clanking got louder and Kisar felt her breath catch.

“I don’t think these are Mandos or ordinary clankers.” She whispered to Boil direly.

The Ghost trooper hummed thoughtfully under his helmet as he kept his blaster steadily pointed towards the incoming noise. “I agree. I remember hearing from surviving troopers of his attack on Tritla that he has his own specialized clanker army. He’s never used it against us before though probably cause he wanted himself or his own men to receive honor from their victory over us. I wonder what changed?”

“I refused to die.” Kisar shrugged and shot him a lopsided smirk, “He’s getting desperate to kill me because his people are losing faith in him. I think today we’ll have the displeasure of experiencing the full force of Spar’s Mandalorians.”

Boil hissed lowly under his helmet after being reminded of Spar’s intense desire to kill Kisar. The platoon leader quickly signalled to the men behind him again and Kisar was surprised to realize her men had started to surround her from all sides in a protective formation.

She rolled her eyes at her friend, “Is this really necessary?”

“Yep.”

“I could just order you to go back to your positions, you know?”

“Uh huh.” 

Kisar paused in consideration before huffing in amusement, “You’d just disobey the order wouldn’t you?”

“Now you’ve got it.” She couldn’t of course see his face because of his helmet, but Kisar knew from experience that her closest friend was grinning ear to ear at her expense.

Similarly, the troopers around them were all radiating mirth as they kept an eye out for the incoming droids while guarding her. Kisar knew they wouldn’t go anywhere even if she ordered them to. Her men were far too loyal for their own good.

The Cathar Padawan growled with no real bite, “Traitors. You wouldn’t do this to Obi-wan or Cody and you know it.”

Snickers were her only response as she sighed in exasperation.

Their little moment sobered instantly when a particularly loud clank sounded in the air. The droids were getting closer and would be on top of them soon enough. 

Kisar felt her men tense up as they readied to fight. 

“Easy now, boys. Let’s not be too hasty and blow our cover. Surprise is the best tool we’ve got at the moment.”

The droids came into their view and Kisar assessed them as best as she could. They looked almost like protocol droids but they were armed with blasters as they drew closer. 

She raised her hand and closed her fist and opened it to point at the droids. 

Her men followed her signal and opened fire on the strange Mandalorian droids. The clankers jerked in surprise and returned fire.

Kisar ignited both sides of her lightsaber and began to block as many shots aimed at her and her men as possible. The blaster bolts just kept coming no matter how many she blocked or redirected back to hit the droids. There were just too many droids.

Kisar cursed in Huttese and turned back to Boil while simultaneously protecting her men from incoming fire with her swinging lightsaber. “Call Cody and ask for reinforcements! We won’t last much longer at this rate!”

Boil obeyed and activated his comm to do just that.

The waves of droids kept coming and even with their defensive positions, her men were getting killed off in large numbers already. If reinforcements didn’t come soon, they would all die.

Kisar snarled as she was shot in the side and stumbled. Her knees hit the hard unforgiving ground and she struggled to get up and continue fighting. 

Boil rushed to her side and helped her to her feet again. Kisar was about to thank him when another blaster bolt hit her friend instead. The bolt hit Boil square in the chest and Kisar watched in open horror as the clone dropped to the rocky ground. She reached over to help him but the droids prevented her from doing so as they kept firing.

Kisar forcefully stopped herself from going to Boil as she assessed the situation she was in. Her men were dwindling in numbers fast and didn’t seem to be doing enough damage to the incoming droids to halt their advance. Kisar herself was injured and her range of motion was much more limited because of her wounded left side. 

She looked down to her friend as he laid far too still on the ground. Boil’s helmet, which has had Numa’s face on it since Waxer died, was knocked off from his fall and she could see his mouth moving enough to indicate he was gasping for air. A sudden feeling of grim understanding came over Kisar as she realized that Boil, the last of her original first two friends, was going to die in a few minutes. Her men were being slaughtered as well and would join their platoon leader in the afterlife. 

Everything seemed so hopeless.

A conversation came to her mind in her frozen state. She and Waxer and Boil were sitting around a table as they discussed their grim reality of fighting battle after battle. Kisar and Boil were bitter about it and complained openly while Waxer did his best to comfort them as he usually did.

_“You two always see the worst in everything.” The bald trooper clucked his tongue in teasing disappointment as he wagged his finger at his two friends._

_Boil rolled his eyes with his usual sass, “And what makes you think there’s a good side to all this fighting nonsense if we don’t have a choice in the first place?”_

_“Oh, I don’t think it’s good that we’re doing this, I’m just glad that our pain at least helps other people.” Waxer shrugged with a slight smile._

_Kisar and Boil turned to each other and raised their eyebrows in simultaneous confusion._

_Kisar was the one who questioned him first, “What the kark does that even mean, Waxer?”_

_“You remember Numa, don’t you? We saved her from the clankers. Her people, the Twi’leks, were saved that day because we fought, forced or not. Think of all of the other people we have fought for too. We gave them hope. Giving others hope is the best way to give ourselves hope if you ask me.”_

_Boil scoffed in disbelief, “How would giving others hope help us?”_

_Waxer shuffled a bit in his seat before answering, “Think about it. Think about the way local people look at us before and after we save them from some clankers. We become heroes in their eyes. Kriff, we even become sentient people to some of them. Just because we can’t directly give ourselves hope at the moment, it doesn't mean that we can’t indirectly do so by helping others. Hope can be found in even the direst of situations when we help people.”_

Kisar remembered not believing a word Waxer said that day but now as she looked at what was left of the platoon, his advice was beyond priceless. Less than a dozen men were left standing and Kisar knew that she had to give them hope somehow even in the massacre they were in.

_Hope can be found in even the direst of situations when we help people._

“Alright, men! We’ve got ourselves in a real predicament! We can just give up and die like cowards! But that’s not the 212th way now is it?! Today, we fight! Don’t give up! Don’t stop fighting until we’re all dead or they’re all scrapped!” Kisar bellowed as she raised her lightsaber high in the air and waved it at the droids.

Her men roared in response and began to charge at the droids with renewed vigor after her inspiring speech. Kisar was right alongside them even in her injured state as she took out as many Mandalorian droids as she could. 

For what seemed like hours, the two forces battled until one was left standing. Both the droids and the clones were all wiped out. 

Kisar was the only one still standing as she numbly gazed at the corpses of her men. Some of them she had known since she first rejoined the Jedi Order. Others were newer but were no less devastating to lose in Kisar’s eyes. 

She sobbed as her gaze landed back on Boil’s body. She ran over to her friend to see if he was even still alive. To both her relief and horror, Boil was hanging onto life by a thread by sheer will as he gasped for air. He was only giving himself more pain as he did so.

Kisar could tell that Boil needed to let go and die so that he could finally rest but her friend was stubborn. 

She wrapped her arms as best as she could around her friend’s large armored torso and weakly smiled when Boil snapped his teary eyes to her face.

“Hey there, Boil.” Kisar whispered as she caressed his cheek to tenderly wipe away his tears. “It’s time to rest now. Go be with Waxer.”

The man choked out stubbornly, “Not….l-leaving...you..k-kid.”

Kisar shook her head gently with an understanding smile as tears streamed down her face, “I don’t think either of us really have a choice here. You’re only making this more painful. I don’t want you to be in pain, Boil, I want you to be at peace and rest.”

When she saw that her friend was still hesitant as he refused to die in order to vainly try and stay around to protect Kisar, the girl sighed and kissed his forehead. “I’ll be okay, Boil. It’s going to be okay. You and Waxer took good care of me, you hear? I’ll be okay because of what you two taught me and helped me become. So it’s time to go to Waxer now so that you can rest and be okay too.”

Boil’s lips tilted upwards in a tired but proud smile, “L-love you.”

It was an unspoken thing between Waxer, Boil, and Kisar. They all loved each other as a family but because of the environment they grew up in, never openly said it. Now, as Boil lay there dying, Kisar figured that the usually gruff man realized he had nothing left to lose by admitting his love for her.

The Cathar Padawan choked out a sob as she tucked in closer to her family member, “I love you too. I love you both so much. Go rest now. Be with Waxer.”

After those words, her friend finally let go and she watched as he stilled completely. Kisar cried out in anguish as she began to rock Boil’s cooling corpse. The pain in her side from the blaster bolt was nothing compared to the agony she felt in her heart as she tucked herself into his body. Even her tail wrapped around his legs as she tried to get as close as possible to her dead friend to feel the waning warmth that he produced in his last moments. 

A hand gently landed on her shoulder after an indiscernible amount of time and Kisar blearily looked up through her tears to see a sympathetic Gregor looking down at her cradling position around Boil’s body. 

He and the rest of Foxtrot must have been their reinforcements then.

“Come on, kid. It’s time to go. The battle is lost. We need to retreat and lick our wounds.” The Commando Captain muttered as he eased Kisar away from Boil. 

The Cathar cub whined pathetically and tried to stubbornly hang onto her friend but Gregor was much stronger than her and pried her off of the fallen trooper. 

Kisar managed to grab his helmet as she was carried away and had her wounds looked at by a grim Aid. She hugged it to herself miserably as she took in the bodies of the rest of her men too.

Kisar knew what she had to do to make sure their deaths would not be in vain.

So that the deaths of her family, both biological and adopted family, would not be in vain as well.

She had to leave what was left of her family to do so but she was willing to sacrifice her time with them in order to save them from the demons of the past that haunted her. 

Kisar had to fulfill the prophecy.


	7. Chapter 7

Cody couldn’t accurately describe the feelings that he experienced once he realized Kisar had left. She made her escape in the middle of night from the _Negotiator_ and stole a shuttle. She left him and another few hundred devastated troopers behind. 

If he hadn’t been so upset by her departure, Cody would have been more proud of her skills to sneak past so many clone troopers and commandeer a shuttle under their noses. He taught her well. At that moment, Cody wished he had taught her a little less well so that she would’ve been caught.

He knew why she did it. He had seen the look on her face after that merciless traitor Spar called her and offered to end the suffering of everyone who protected her if she would just give herself up. 

Cody knew she was trying to protect them all but that only made it worse in his mind. Kisar loved her family fiercely as all Cathar did, and those who were close to her loved her just as fiercely in return. 

He should be there with her. She should have gone to him for help.

But she didn’t because she was trying to naively protect her men. Men that would die for her without question and were intensely possessive and overprotective of _their_ Jedi. The 212th and other clones that Kisar became close to would not take her departure well. Cody would have to take on the almost impossible task of calming them down so they don’t go after the reckless kid themselves and drag her back to where she belongs- under their protection and care.

Cody was trying to resist that same temptation to go after her himself. The only thing keeping him there was the knowledge that if he left the Republic to join Kisar, she would never come back to the Jedi and would never truly be reunited with her men as very few of them possessed the mental independence to desert from the GAR.

He sighed and activated his comm, “Gregor, it’s Cody. Round up all the men in the mess hall ASAP. I have some news for all of you.”

***

The mess hall of the _Negotiator_ was in a buzz when Cody entered. Hundreds of identical faces turned to see their Commander and immediately snapped to attention.

He waved them at ease before clearing his throat and announcing, “Men, I’m afraid I have bad news. Commander Kisar deserted at around 0200 this morning.”

None of the 212th audibly reacted to that. They were too well-trained to do so. Instead, the room filled with tension as hundreds of soldiers held their breath in shock and horror.

Cody continued warily as he studied their physical body language, “She...decided she could best prevent the 212th from any more tragic losses like Sarrish from happening again by going after Spar herself.”

“Alone?” Rush growled quietly with his arms crossed over his chest in displeasure. 

The Marshal Commander nodded with a disapproving frown, “Kisar didn’t want the deaths of any more of her men to occur on account of her _rivalry_ with Spar.”

“That’s _osik_.” Savvy swore in Mando’a as the clones around him agreed with bobbing heads and pursed lips.

Cody agreed with that statement whole-heartedly but he had to make sure they didn’t do anything stupid by acting as the rational leader. Even if all he wanted to do was go after Kisar and drag her back by her ear and throw her over his knee for a good tanning. If she wanted to act like an impulsive kid, he’d treat her like one if that was what it would take to get the message into her thick skull that she couldn’t always take the burdens of the galaxy on her shoulders alone. There was an entire battalion and then some of clone troopers who were more than willing to walk into hell to protect her that proved that she didn’t have to always be so self-sacrificing. 

“I don’t like it either, brothers, but we have a duty to the Republic and we can’t abandon it for one reckless Jedi, even if it is _our_ reckless Jedi.” Cody shook his head remorsefully as he convinced his men to not go AWOL and go after Kisar. She would never forgive herself if that happened and Cody wanted to make sure she would come back to them on her own. If she chose not to anyway, he had a solid Plan B of bringing her back by force. 

“So...what do we do?” Wooley hesitantly asked as he looked at his Commander with horrified eyes.

“We make sure we’re still here for when the kid comes back with one hell of a story to tell. Then we make sure she can never do such a stupid thing _ever again_ , whether she likes it or not.” Cody grinned ferally as he answered his younger brother. 

Dark chuckles echoed around the mess hall as several troopers already began to scheme on how to do just that. The tension had lifted some but the Commander doubted the 212th would truly be at ease again until they’re reunited with their Jedi. 

There were plenty of clone battalions and legions who were possessive of their Jedi Generals and Commanders but none rivaled the 212th’s intense pride and overprotectiveness over their Jedi. General Kenobi received it to a much lesser degree than the kid did as he was less demonstrative with his warm feelings to his men, unlike Kisar, who received the same intense emotions in return from the clones. She was the more approachable, more _comfortable_ Jedi to be around with.

Cody sighed as he quietly made his leave from the mess hall and went back to his office.

He trusted his men to not do anything they shouldn’t after he broke the news. They weren’t nearly as reckless as their Jedi was, after all. 

As the Marshal Commander sat in his office, the emotions he had tried so hard to suppress came full force and slammed into his being. 

Anxious images of Kisar being publicly defeated and executed for all of Mandalorian space to see haunted his thoughts. She was a tough kid, but a kid nonetheless. Would she even live to be able to return to her men or would she die trying to protect them in vain?

“Cody?” Gregor called out gently as the Captain walked into the Commander’s office.

“What is it, Gregor?” Cody mumbled as he rubbed his forehead to try and massage away the bad thoughts.

“What are we going to do?”

The Commander shot his brother a dirty look, “I already told you.”

“No, you told us the safe and legal version of what we’re going to do. You didn’t tell us what we’re going to do that’ll actually help the kid.” The Captain hissed defiantly back.

Cody snarled in frustration at the Commando’s audacity but understood what he was trying to ask. Gregor wanted to find an off the books way to keep Kisar from dying. 

“Neither of us can go after her ourselves and you know it. The Republic would notice our disappearance.”

Gregor grunted in reluctant agreement while crossing his arms over his chest and looking away to think of an idea that would work. “So send some men that won’t be missed.”

“Like who? Some rookies who have never seen action before? Yeah, Gregor, they’ll only hinder the kid.” Cody scoffed before his eyes widened as an idea came to mind, “But there are some shinies I know that wouldn’t be missed that might actually help.”

“Who?” The Commando probed suspiciously.

“Clone Force 99. They are a squad of _specialized_ clones that call themselves the Bad Batch. Since they haven’t seen combat yet and are largely unknown even on Kamino, they won’t be missed if I ask them to hunt down Kisar and accompany her as she goes after Spar.” Cody mused as he stroked his chin and considered the validity of his idea.

He would have to take advantage of the bureaucracy and general administrative confusion within the Republic to “borrow” the Bad Batch. Who besides the dedicated sleuth could realize that they weren’t assigned to some random politician or officer with how big the Republic was?

It just might work.

***

After calling the Bad Batch and unofficially assigning them to help Kisar, Cody felt deep set exhaustion enter his bones. He had never felt so powerless in his entire life, short as it was. He was just a clone, one of the highest ranked clones, but still a clone. 

He needed to talk to someone.

Rex was still in the middle of a battlezone last he checked so Cody didn’t want to distract his younger brother. Kisar was obviously unavailable as well so his two usual options were useless at that moment. As Marshal Commander of the 7th Sky Corps, he had very few friends even amongst his brothers. It truly was lonely at the top. 

_“There is one other person who doesn’t see you as a Commander or a clone, but as a man.”_ His thoughts traitorously supplied him with the idea of contacting Keeja- no- of contacting _Ms. Virtus_. He was just a clone and she was a free woman, he would only waste her time no matter what the hopeful voice in his mind said. 

Despite his inner protestations, Cody still found himself entering the number that _Ms. Virtus_ gave him a few months ago before he was called back to the frontlines. She looked so beautiful that day even with how messy her clothes were as a professional baker. There was flour and batter all over her after a mixer broke, but to Cody, she looked like some sort of domestic goddess with her rosy cheeks and soft figure partially hidden under her apron. 

She was everything a clone like him didn’t deserve and yet she remained so _welcoming_ to him and his brothers. Kisar and Rex liked to tease Cody and say that she was especially sweet on him but the Commander never believed them. Why would someone like her give him the time of day as a romantic interest?

“Hello?” A somewhat staticky feminine voice hesitantly answered before he could change his mind and hang up the call. 

Cody felt his throat dry up as he awkwardly questioned, “Hello, is this Keeja Virtus?”

“Yeah, it is. Who is this?”

 _Here goes nothing_. “It’s Commander Cody, Ms. Virtus.”

Her voice brightened immediately, “Commander! It’s been so long since I’ve last seen you. How have you been?”

He choked out a bitter laugh, “I’ve been better, Ms. Virtus.”

Keeja gave a long worrying pause before she answered, “What happened? Is everyone okay?”

“Kisar’s gone. She deserted.”

“... _What?_ ” The Corellian woman gasped in panic. “She’s so young! How did this happen?! What could have made that reckless girl think she should be off on her own with an entire wannabe Mandalorian empire constantly hunting her?! When I get my hands on her, I’ll- ”

“Ms. Virtus.” Cody interrupted before she could go into a full-blown panic attack. He must have been a little too stern because he could hear her intake a sharp breath in shock. 

“Sorry. _Sorry_. I just...she’s so young and I can’t lose her too.” Keeja apologized before continuing, “I just wish I was strong like you, Commander.” 

_Strong like me?_

He certainly didn’t feel very strong at that moment. “I understand. I’m worried too. Don’t worry about your reaction by the way. You’re..uh...you’re a civilian and aren’t used to these kinds of things.” 

“You always know what to say don’t you? Did you call me to break the news?” Keeja wondered aloud.

Cody actually _blushed_ as he shuffled awkwardly in his thankfully private quarters, “Ummm...no. I actually called cause I need...I needed someone to talk to after Kisar left.”

“ _Oh_.” She paused for far too long before hesitantly asking, “Can we switch to a holocall then? This seems like a face-to-face conversation.”

After quickly checking to make sure he was appropriately covered in clothing, Cody did just that. 

When the image of Keeja popped up, he felt extremely guilty to see that her hands were covering her face as her shoulders silently shook in what he could only assume were sobs. 

“Are you alright, Ms. Virtus?” 

She looked up with puffy eyes and wiped away some tears, “Not really. Sorry for the spectacle, Commander.”

“It’s no problem. I wish I had it in me to do the same thing right now.” Cody sighed. “I’m the one who should be sorry. I upset you.”

To his surprise, Keeja actually laughed. It wasn’t a mirthful laugh but more of a sad chuckle as she found some bitter amusement in what he said. “ _None_ of this is your fault. I’m glad it- nevermind” 

She blushed as she stopped herself from finishing her sentence.

Cody’s eyes narrowed in suspicion as he forgot of his earlier nervousness around her, “What are you glad about? You can tell me.”

“It’s not a big deal, really, Commander.” The baker hastily tried to convince him.

He wasn’t buying it, “ _Ms. Virtus_.”

Keeja made an odd whimpering sound at the back of her throat before biting her lip and turning an even deeper red which was visible even in the monochrome blues of the hologram. “I’m glad it was…..you. That told me, I mean. You’re a much better newscaster than the overzealous idiots who broadcast on Coruscant’s HoloNet.”

“You..you’re glad it was _me?_ ”

“Yeah, you’re a good man, Cody and...I like talking to you, anyways.” The Corellian played with her blouse as she looked shyly away from the Marshal Commander. 

Cody grunted in embarrassed discomfort. Could Rex and Kisar have actually been right? “Thank you, Ms. Virtus.”

“Keeja. How many times do I have to ask you to call me Keeja, Commander?” She huffed in frustration but there was a faint smile on her lips now. Good, he hated to see her upset.

“It’s not respectful, Ms. Virtus.” He argued wryly with an uptick of his lips. The exhaustion he felt before was practically nonexistent now as he talked to the baker. 

“What if I ordered you to call me Keeja? I thought you clones were supposed to be obedient?” Keeja shot back impishly as she teased him. 

If anyone else made that joke that wasn’t a brother or the kid, Cody wouldn’t have found it amusing, but at that moment with the significantly cheered up beautiful woman in front of him trying to get closer to him, he actually snickered. He hadn’t reacted like that to anyone since he was a cadet with his batchmates.

“I don’t know….you’re not exactly my superior officer or anything…” He hummed mockingly as if in deep thought before snapping his fingers with an idea, “I know! How about I call you Ms. Civilian from now on? That way I don't call you by _any_ of your names.”

“Do that and I’ll call you not-so-Jango-Fett from now on.” Keeja bared her teeth in a challenging smirk.

“Now wouldn’t that be tragic?” He drawled out.

“It would be. So call me Keeja.” 

Cody smiled widely in genuine happiness, the stress of the war and Kisar’s disappearance momentarily not weighing down on him, “Alright, Keeja. Call me Cody then.”

“It’s a deal, Cody. We’ll have to do this more often if it helps you as much as it helps me. We can start a support group called, ‘So Your Jedi’s a Reckless Idiot?’”

The clone, no, the _man_ , laughed, “As long as I get recognized as a co-founder.”

**Translations**

Osik: dung, crap


	8. Chapter 8

Someone was following Kisar.

She might have not been the best pilot in the galaxy, but she was aware enough of her surroundings to know that another ship was following her.

Flashbacks of that fateful day when Spar first attacked her and killed Master Hosep and her Initiate clan ran through Kisar’s mind as she nervously scanned the ship behind her. It looked to be a Republic military ship but the Cathar Padawan was unsure if that was better or worse than having a Mandalorian ship after her given the circumstances.

A call came in from who Kisar could only assume was the ship behind her. She bit her lip anxiously before picking up the call. “Who is this? Why are you following me?”

A strangely familiar yet unfamiliar voice responded immediately, “This is Clone Force 99, Commander. We were assigned to accompany you as you go after Spar.”

“Bantha dung. I know what a clone sounds like, buddy, and you’re close but you’re not quite close enough.” Kisar hissed back as she began to check and see what limited maneuverability and weapons the shuttle had that she stole.

“Commander, we were assigned to this mission by Commander Cody. He was adamant that we accompany you. Please allow us to meet in person on the nearest breathable planet or moon.” The not-clone patiently persuaded.

“Tech!” A much meaner sounding man with the same not-quite clone voice growled, “The Commander said we could use force to make her not do this alone so stop trying to baby the little Jedi!” 

“We can’t just do that unless she leaves us no choice, Crosshair!” The original man, Tech, argued back just as passionately.

Kisar snarled in frustration while she listened to their argument. If Cody really did send some weird clones to basically babysit her while she hunted down Spar, her plan of not getting anymore people hurt because of the stupid prophecy was already failing. Cody always was good at putting a wrench in her plans. Now that overprotective clone might ruin her one chance to do something right and not have the blood of people who suffered simply because she existed on her hands. It was almost impressive that he managed to find someone to babysit her after only a week of being gone actually.

Maybe she could use the distraction and argument of the not-clones to her advantage? They seemed to be new at the whole “mission” thing and were probably shinies. Kisar could work with that. Shinies were easily distracted and naive, no matter how well-trained they were. 

Without breaking the call, she began to flip some switches that she barely knew how to use herself in order to prep the ship to jump into hyperdrive. 

She carefully listened to the two men argue to make sure they were still too preoccupied with fighting and then swiftly entered hyperspace in order to lose her would-be followers.

The last thing Kisar heard before the call lost its connection were surprised exclamations and angry curses. She smirked as she moved further and further away from them at lightspeed. 

Hopefully that was the last she would see of them.

***

Kisar was being followed.  _ Again _ .

“How many times do I have to kriffing lose these guys?” She groaned as she walked through the streets of Enarc, a Seperatist planet and the regional headquarters of the Trade Federation to look for one of the few people in the galaxy she would accept help from to kill Spar.

Kisar was already on edge because of the hostile planet she was on, but after sensing the familiar Force-signatures of the strange clones that were tailing her before, she was close to panic-mode. 

The Cathar Padawan thought she had been thorough in covering her tracks by trading the stolen Republic shuttle and buying a much more inconspicuous merchant ship. As a non-human, she also fit in just fine in Separatist-controlled space and would not stand out in a crowd with the regular civilian travelling clothes she bought with the money from the shuttle she sold. Apparently, even all that was not enough to shake off the so-called Clone Force 99.

Kisar was distracted by the presence of the clones that she didn’t notice the importantly dressed Neimoidian until she ran right into him. The man let out an indignant squawk as he unceremoniously fell down onto the street and instantly dirtied his expensive robes. Several people around Kisar gasped in shock and horror and began to gather around to stare at the spectacle. 

The Cathar girl sheepishly apologized and attempted to help the Neimodian up but his pride refused to accept it after her accidental affront towards him. His now stained clothing marked him as a high-ranking official in the Trade Federation as he did his best to wipe off the dirt and mud from the crowded streets.

He turned to Kisar with pure outrage, “How dare you? Do you have any idea who I am?!” 

Kisar bowed out of respect and once again tried to apologize, “I’m sorry, sir. I wasn’t looking where I was going. Please forgive me!” 

The crowd shook their heads in disapproval and a lack of empathy as they began to draw closer to her in a hostile manner. The Cathar Padawan in disguise felt annoyed at her own mistake. She needed to find a way out of the situation before things got ugly. 

Her eyes subtly scanned for escape routes as the crowd and the official took angry steps toward her. Elation flooded her system when she spotted a nearby alleyway that had lots of twists and turns to lose the forming mob in. 

“You’ll have to send me the laundry bill, sir!” Kisar called out in glee as she jumped over several of the crowd members and escaped into the nearby alleyway. She heard yells of shock and cries of fury behind her but they faded out as the distance between them and her grew larger and larger. Eventually, Kisar couldn’t hear them at all and she knew she had lost the would-be mob.

She sagged against a nearby wall in the alley and sighed in relief with closed eyes. All of this evading people really tired her out. Kisar wanted to have the constant chase end already.

A brief warning in the Force was all Kisar got in notification before she felt a knife press against her throat right under her chin. 

“Remember us, Commander?” A not-quite clone voice whispered in her pointed ear as she turned to see four mismatched and obviously augmented clones in civilian clothes boxing her in. 

That was so not what she meant by wanting to end the chase.

The clone with the knife against her throat had a tattoo covering half of his face and had long hair. He appeared to be the closest of the group to regular clones but still had a face and build that were slightly different from Jango Fett. 

The clone right next to him was taller and had a slight build. He was pale and had gray hair. He had the most hostile look on his face as he openly sneered at her. 

Another clone standing further away was the smallest of the four and had goggles that covered his light brown eyes. He had brunet hair and was playing with some buttons on his wrist. 

The last clone was the biggest she had ever seen. He was even larger than the jet troopers she had encountered in the barracks on Coruscant. He was bald and had a slightly manic grin on his face as he stared down at her.

Kisar shrugged carelessly at the one who was holding a knife to her throat. “Can’t say I do, actually.”

She suddenly snapped her fingers in feigned recognition, “Wait a minute! I  _ do _ know you guys!”

The gathered clones narrowed their eyes in unison at her obvious mockery towards them. 

The Cathar gave a toothy smirk as she cooed, “I’m pretty sure I saw you all at that strip club on Kellux! It was hard to recognize you all at first without all the glitter and lace but I could never forget such  _ purty _ mouths.”

The knife pressed even closer to her skin and threatened to spill blood but Kisar didn’t regret it one bit. She was never known for her great first impressions for a reason. She was never known for being the best people person either. 

The pale clone was outright seething as he glared daggers at Kisar and hissed to the man with the knife, “Hunter,  _ please _ just let me rough her up a bit on the way there? Cody said we had to keep her alive but he didn't say unharmed!”

The clone holding her to the wall with his blade, Hunter, rolled his eyes at the irritable clone behind him. “He said to take care of her, Crosshair. He did warn us about her attitude problems so you should have been ready for this.”

Kisar gave an offended “Hey!” but was ignored as the two clone brothers discussed what to do with her.

Crosshair crossed his arms over his chest, “I’m just saying. She’d still be fine, just a little more  _ bruised _ than she was before we got to her that’s all.”

“The Commander was adamant that we keep her as unharmed as possible by protecting her, Crosshair.” The smallest clone argued while wagging a finger at his mean brother.

“You’re too soft, Tech.” Crosshair scoffed while turning back to Kisar and pointing at her, “I don’t care if you’re some sort of cadet Jedi, you talk that way to me again and I’ll smack you around.”

“Atta boy, Crosshair! Show her who’s boss!” The biggest one shouted while smacking Tech hard on the shoulder. The smaller clone almost lost his balance due to the blow but managed to right himself at the last moment while shooting an annoyed look at the large man.

Kisar opened her mouth to give what she thought was a masterful retort but Hunter firmly covered her mouth with his hand before she got the chance. The clone gave her a warning look before sternly addressing Crosshair.

“Orders are orders, Crosshair. If I have to keep you two separate the entire time we do this, so help me, I will.”

Hunter's gaze settled on her as he held her against the wall. Kisar did her best to glare up at the man but he didn’t seem too intimidated. After a few moments of consideration, the apparent leader snorted and said aloud, “Tech, get the syringe. She’s a slippery one and I don’t want to keep chasing her from system to system.”

Kisar’s eyes widened and she gave some muffled arguments from beneath his hand as she struggled but it did nothing to stop Tech from injecting a needle into her neck.

She gave one last glare to the strange clones before darkness overtook her senses.

***

Kisar woke up on an unknown ship. She tried to move her arms to rub her bleary eyes but found that she was handcuffed on both her arms and legs. She sighed in frustration and looked around the plain room she was in to see if she could use any objects to free herself. Unfortunately, only Kisar and the handcuffs inhabited the room at that moment. 

With a huff, she leaned back against the wall and waited for someone to enter the room. 

Fortunately, Kisar didn’t have to wait long as after 20 standard minutes of waiting, the door opened to reveal the clone known as Tech, now fully covered in some unique dark clone armor.

“You stabbed me with a needle.” She sulked.

“You jumped into lightspeed while I was talking to you. You had your chance for no needles and you didn’t take it.” Tech shrugged without any real regret in his voice.

“How am I supposed to kill Spar if I’m handcuffed?”

“You’ll go free once you agree to behave.” Hunter interjected as he walked up behind Tech and gave Kisar an admonishing look. 

The Cathar hummed in thought, “Behaving doesn't come naturally to me as I’m sure you’ve noticed.”

Hunter gave a mean grin that was all teeth as he twirled a knife in his fingers, “You don’t have a choice. You may outrank us in the Republic but this is off the books so I’m in charge here. Cody told us we have to accompany you as you go after Spar so that’s what’s gonna happen, no ifs or buts.”

“We’ll see about that.” Kisar snarled as she rattled the handcuffs on her limbs.

Hunter scoffed out a laugh before directing Tech to unlock her cuffs. “I’d recommend not trying anything as Tech frees you. You’re in an unfamiliar ship in the middle of space, you won’t get far.”

Kisar didn’t attack Tech but made sure to bare her sharp teeth at the man to show her displeasure as she was led down a hallway into what appeared to be the eating area of the ship. 

The other two clones, Crosshair and the large bald one, were sitting at a table and eating as they bantered back and forth like the brothers they were. They halted their conversation when they saw Kisar and their other two brothers walk into their small eating space. 

Crosshair smirked as he chewed on some bland looking food, “So she finally awakens. How was your beauty rest, sweetheart?” 

“Pretty good, actually. I think it’d do you some  _ serious _ good to have some for someone with your face, Crosshair.”

The large clone guffawed and threw his head back as he wiped away some tears of laughter and banged on the table with his giant fists, “She’s got you there, brother!”

“Shut up, Wrecker! It’s not like you’re any prettier.” Crosshair hissed back as he adopted his default sneering expression.

Hunter cleared his throat and gestured for Kisar to sit down next to the clone known as Wrecker. She gave him an incredulous look but he wasn’t budging.

“We’re going to be spending a lot of time together, Commander. That means we need to learn how to get along.”

“Fine.” She huffed and sat down next to the large man. She immediately felt dwarfed in size in comparison but kept her head held high. These men weren’t her family, they weren’t even her friends. She had to keep her head screwed on tight and always be aware of what’s happening from now on. 

Kisar was quietly passed some food as the clone squad began to chatter amongst each other around her. She nibbled on the flavorless gelatinous food and studied them as they interacted with one another. 

Hunter was the obvious leader. He usually had a clear head but wasn’t afraid to use his knives to get a point across apparently. He also had firm loyalty to Cody for unknown reasons, which would’ve been a great thing in any other case, but was now a huge hindrance to the Padawan as she tried to avoid any more casualties from her clash with Spar by going after him alone. 

Wrecker was a little off but seemed friendly enough as he did his best to include her in conversations while they ate, especially those that involved teasing Crosshair. By the looks of him, he was strong and near unstoppable as a fighter. She would do well to stay on his good side.

Tech appeared to be the all-around technology specialist based off of his name and demeanor. He probably had knowledge of medicine and other things similar to it since he had a syringe at the ready to inject into Kisar like Helix often did. He was less boisterous than most of his brothers but still didn’t seem too bothered by their antics. 

Last and definitely least, Crosshair more than proved himself to be a complete jerk. Kisar would be the first to admit that she wasn’t always the easiest to like but according to Helix and Kix in their therapy sessions, she was that way due to intense and numerous childhood traumas. Crosshair hadn’t really seen any action yet but still managed to be unlikeable so in Kisar’s mind, he had no excuse. 

_ “You just don’t like him because he reminds you too much of Boil when you first met.” _ Her mind traitorously supplied. 

She frowned at the thought. No, Boil was prickly when they first met, sure, but he wasn’t nearly as bad as Crosshair was. She grew close to Boil and became his friend and eventual family, there was no possibility that she could do the same with Crosshair or any of the infuriatingly persistent Bad Batch. 

Despite her adamant argument to the contrary, she suspected that she was wrong in her assessment of Clone Force 99 but stubbornly denied it.

She refused to go through the same pain with these shinies that she did with Waxer and Boil. They weren’t her family and they never would be.

Kisar had a  _ Manda’lor _ to kill and had no time for any more bonding after all.

Or that was what she kept telling herself.

  
  



	9. Chapter 9

Kisar had reluctantly told her new allies what she had been doing on Enarc. She was looking for a rogue clone by the name of Kaddak. He was tough enough to kill his own Mandalorian instructor as a Commando before being imprisoned by the Kaminoans. 

There were rumors that Kaddak had escaped and entered Separatist space but she had yet to find him. He had killed a highly skilled Mando before, Kisar was hoping he could do it again. She just had to find him and convince him to join her and the Bad Batch as they went after Spar.

The planet of Ostor was not what Kisar was expecting for the infamous Kaddak to inhabit as it was not exactly known for anything. It wasn’t aligned with the Separatists or the Republic but was on the edge of Separatist space in the Outer Rim. 

After visiting planet after planet, they finally ended up on Ostor after a smuggler gave them a tip on the whereabouts of a man that fit the description of Kaddak. 

Kisar felt a little bad about possibly ruining what little peace Kaddak had created for himself on Ostor but she at least acknowledged that she needed help now instead of her previous attitude of going after Spar herself.

Kisar sighed in frustration as they landed. Spar had to have noticed her absence from the Republic by the now. Was he hunting her down at that very moment? Maybe he had already found her and was waiting for her in Os.

“ _No time for that kind of thought process, soldier._ ” Cody’s usual reminder rang through her brain. He always would stop her anxious thoughts before they became detrimental to her concentration. He always would take care of her in his own stern way but now Kisar had cut off her ties with him in order to protect him and the rest of her family. Now she had to take care of herself. Cody wasn’t there to hold her hand anymore.

“Let’s do this.” Kisar muttered bitterly before exiting the ship with the Bad Batch in tow. 

***

Os was a normal enough city on a planet known for its rock formations and red-colored canyons. It’s skyscrapers and walls did an admirable job of physically shielding its inhabitants from the aggressive dust storms that plagued the entire planet. The people inside of Os were a mix of hardy people from the surrounding rural areas or privileged and finely dressed inhabitants who obviously had spent their whole life in the sheltered capital.

Os was a city of migrants desperate to find a better life there than they would have found on the rest of the planet, sure enough, but there was only one migrant that Kisar was interested in finding at that moment.

They headed into a local bar in the city known for catering to outsiders and new migrants. If Kaddak was truly trying to blend in as much as he could amongst the natural born human population, he would probably have entered in the same manner as the other migrants.

Kisar, while a highly trained and experienced warrior compared to the shiny Bad Batch, was still just a kid in the eyes of civilians. She had quietly instructed the Bad Batch on how to act and how to dress in order to accurately come across as civilians. She usually had to act as either their slave or an adopted family member and could not approach people because of her age.

She watched Hunter and Tech, the most socially adept members, question a bar patron about a man that fit the description of Kaddak. They portrayed themselves as relatives of Kaddak who wanted to find their family member. Even as modified clones, their facial features were similar enough to a standard clone’s that they could easily pass as brothers or cousins of Kaddak. 

The bar patron, a portly Duros, was helpful and friendly enough to direct them to a small ranch just outside of the city limits that a man that sounded like Kaddak inhabited. Hunter silently signaled Kisar and the rest of the Bad Batch of their discovery before thanking the patron and quickly leaving the bar.

“It’s about time we found this guy.” Hunter muttered as they used some speeders that Kisar personally “borrowed” from some middle-aged jerks that catcalled her to reach the outer parts of the city to find Kaddak. 

“Don’t be too sure that we found him yet, Hunter.” Tech cautioned as they arrived at the modest ranch with a few farm animals calmly eating. 

Before the speeder that Crosshair was driving could even fully stop, the end of a rifle was pressed against his forehead by a man with robes covering most of his armored body. Wrecker, who was closest to his brother, cursed and tried to attack the man but was halted by the stranger’s warning through his voice modifier. “That’s as far as I’ll let you get before I blow your friend’s brains out.”

Kisar could sense the horror and shock felt by the Bad Batch as they were put into a truly dangerous situation for the first time as shinies. She frowned and knew that she needed to take control of the situation herself as a veteran.

The Cathar Jedi slowly stepped forward into the stranger’s sight with her hands raised in a placating manner, “Easy there, friend. We mean you no harm. We are simply here in search of someone by the name of Kaddak. We seek this man’s help.”

The man paused before pressing his weapon even harder into a nervous looking Crosshair’s skull, “ _Leave.now._ ”

“You’re him, aren’t you?” Kisar guessed based on the stranger’s aggressive reaction. 

“There is no man by that name here. Leave before I kill this one.” The stranger growled in warning with his finger on the trigger.

Kisar shook her head no, “You wouldn’t kill a fellow clone would you, Kaddak?”

The man who she was hoping was Kaddak seemed to consider her words carefully before answering curtly, “I am not a slave.”

“No. No, you’re not. That’s why we came here for your help. We need the help of a free-thinking man.” Kisar reasoned before continuing, “Please lower your weapon. These men are shinies and I would rather not have them lose a brother in their squad in their first real mission.”

Kaddak hesitated before pulling his rifle away from Crosshair’s forehead and pointing it to the ground instead to show that he was still armed and ready for a fight if anyone tried anything. 

Kisar stepped forward to the infamous clone and did her best to look at his eyes even as they were covered in a mask and robes designed to both protect him from the harsh weather as well as disguise his true appearance as a clone. 

“Please, sir. We need your help. There is a Mandalorian clone by the name of Spar terrorizing the Republic and any planet unfortunate enough to be near Mandalorian space. We need your help to stop him before more people are killed.”

Kaddak snorted, “What makes you think you’ll get my help?” 

“If it’s not because of your love for your clone brothers then it could be because of your hatred for the Mandalorians who knowingly and harshly trained you as a slave soldier. Your trainer wasn’t the only member of the _Cuy’val Dar_ after all and Spar openly supports those same men who assisted Jango in raising up his own _children_ as slave soldiers.” Kisar persuaded with conviction.

The disguised clone looked at her blankly from behind his mask for a few moments before throwing his head back and laughing. The feared and rumored to be insane former Commando was practically choking on his own guffaws as he reacted to Kisar’s statement. “How typical of a Jedi to be blind to their own sins while pointing out the sins of others. You were the ones who asked the Kaminoans to create us in the first place weren’t you?”

“A rogue Jedi did, yes, but we didn’t support him and didn’t know about the existence of the clones until right before the first battle of Geonosis.” The Cathar Jedi shook her head in denial at the Commando’s accusation. “How did you know I was a Jedi anyways?”

“A child approaches me and dares to try and argue with me on my own land as I threaten her companion. Only a Jedi youngling would do such a reckless thing even with backup.” Kaddak smirked as he gestured to the shocked Bad Batch.

“Will you help us?” Kisar hesitantly asked again.

Kaddak hummed before shrugging, “No.”

Wrecker was the first of the Bad Batch to speak as he stuttered out from behind Kisar, “W-what! Why?”

“I’m no slave. I am my own man. I don’t have to help any of you.” The former Commando answered as he walked back to his home in a clear dismissal. 

Kisar growled and was about to march forward and give the man a piece of her mind when Crosshair surprisingly beat her to it. “Now wait just a minute!”

Kaddak’s steps halted and he tilted his head in a tense manner. Kisar opened her mouth to warn Crosshair of the former Commando’s obvious intent to hurt him if the sniper kept yelling and approaching him.

Crosshair didn’t stop as he jammed his finger into Kaddak’s armored chest, “We have flown from planet to planet in several systems just to find you! I refuse to go through all that only to have nothing in return! You’re coming with us and you’re going to help us kill Spar even if I have to force you myself!” 

Kisar sucked in a breath as she waited for the former Commando’s reaction to Crosshair’s forceful words. 

The man hummed as he individually assessed each member of the Bad Batch alongside Kisar. He seemed to come to a conclusion as he turned back to the still livid Crosshair. “You’ve got some serious stones talking to me like that, kid. I’ll give you that. Are you and your brothers all form and no function with your mutations or do you actually have what it takes to kill a _Manda’lor?_ ” 

“We’ve got what it takes and then some.” Crosshair swore as his brothers nodded in agreement behind him.

Kaddak chuckled darkly in response, “Fine. I’ll assist you youngsters in your little quest as you _obviously_ need some stable adult leadership and guidance.”

Their new ally motioned for Kisar to follow him into his home, “Come along, _Jet’ika,_ and help me pack.”

Kisar rolled her eyes like the 12-year-old she was, “What makes you think you can tell me what to do?”

Her response was Kaddak silently pulling his belt out from the loops of his tactical pants and folding it in the way someone would for discipline. The former Commando made a few practice swings with it while keeping his gaze firmly locked on Kisar to show he meant business. He had no loyalties to the Republic nor the Jedi and therefore did not follow any of their regulations or laws. There would be nothing stopping Kaddak from belting Kisar right then and there in front of what would probably be a horrified and shocked Clone Force 99.

The headstrong Cathar pre-teen drooped her pointed ears in embarrassed defeat before following the smug clone into his home to help him pack his things.

She could already tell that this was going to be a hard mission with both the Bad Batch and Kaddak to annoy her now.

“This is going to be so fun.” Kisar muttered as she obediently packed the various weapons and tools stashed in Kaddak’s home as the clone sternly watched her every move.

***

Their meager team of a rogue clone Commando, a Cathar Padawan, and some rookie augmented clone Commandos had been traveling for over five standard days as they moved towards where Spar was last spotted on Concord Dawn. 

Kaddak had quickly established himself as the leader of their merry band which Kisar reluctantly admitted was a smart move. Before, she and Hunter acted as leaders but she wasn’t an adult and Hunter has never seen action yet so neither of them were exactly ideal.

Kaddak, for all that he liked to antagonize everyone else and call them slaves to the Republic, proved himself to be a capable and wise leader who was of the same generation of clones as Spar because he was around when the _Cuy’val Dar_ and Jango Fett were still training clones. He had the same style of fighting as well as the independent and bitter mindset that Spar had. Kaddak was even bitter enough towards the Kaminoans that he tattooed his own personalized name based off of the Mandalorian chaos god all over his body and scarred his face in order to be more individualistic.

Kaddak seemed to have mellowed out after the Kaminoans tried to put him in solitary confinement and study him to see why he went crazy. Once he escaped, he made his way out into Separatist space in order to escape the Republic and be free. 

Kisar and the Bad Batch had put a wrench in that plan by showing up on his ranch but the rogue Commando didn’t seem too bothered by that as he immediately asserted his dominance over them and directed them to Concord Dawn. He had also begun training them to be better prepared to fight and kill Mandos. 

“Do you think they’ll know we’re coming?” Tech nervously asked as they neared Concord Dawn.

“I doubt Spar is stupid enough to think anything else. Our _Jet’ika_ went AWOL from the Republic and the only reason she would do that would be to go after him and he knows it.” Kaddak grunted out with crossed arms over his armored chest. 

“How are we gonna do this, Kad? There’s thousands of them and six of us.” Kisar questioned with confusion clear in her voice as she looked out into the vastness of space through the ship’s windows. 

“Young Padawan, there is so much you need to learn about Mandalorian culture and your own Cathar culture.” Kaddak chuckled while ruffling her mane as she swatted at him in annoyance.

The former Commando proceeded to lay out his plan to the gathered clones and singular Jedi. Kisar bit her lip in worry at what he was proposing but knew that that was their best shot of reaching Spar and killing him in order to fulfill the prophecy and protect her men.

It had to work. 

She’ll make it work even if it costs her her life.

** Translations **

_Cuy’val Dar:_ Mandalorians that Jango Fett picked to originally help him train the clones on Kamino. 

_Jet’ika:_ little Jedi


	10. Chapter 10

“How many do you think will show up?” Kisar bit her lip as she tapped her foot anxiously on the ship’s floors. They were nearly into Mandalorian space and Kaddak had still purposely kept her in the dark about one vital part of the plan: the participation of some willing Cathar warriors. 

He alluded to contacting both the official Cathar government on her home planet as well as several known Cathar colonies in the greater diaspora. However, Kaddak had not yet informed her and the Bad Batch of who responded and agreed to help. 

“Couldn’t tell ya.” The Commando shrugged unhelpfully while polishing one of his many blasters. 

“Couldn’t or wouldn’t?” Hunter interjected with a frown as he sat down next to Kisar in the hallway. Both the modified clone and the Jedi Padawan had been doing their best to interrogate Kaddak on the entirety of their plan but the rogue clone had refused to answer their questions. 

Kisar was beginning to realize that Kaddak truly didn’t know how many Cathar were willing to help her and fulfill the prophecy. “Can you tell us the meeting spot at least?” 

Kad sighed and acquiesced, “We’re meeting on your home planet actually.”

The Cathar Padawan’s eyes bulged in shock, “On Cathar?!”

“Yes, that is your home planet isn’t it?” Crosshair muttered sarcastically from his position down the hall.

“One more word out of you and I’m stuffing that sniper rifle of yours up somewhere you won’t like.” Kisar hissed as Kaddak smirked and Hunter snickered in response to their constant bickering.

***

The Cathar System was not too far away from the Mandalore System, hence the fact that the ancient Mando crusaders attacked it so karking much, and therefore made an excellent meeting spot for their ragtag team and whatever able-bodied Cathar that were willing to fight Spar’s Mandalorian warriors. 

Kisar was pacing back and forth in the Bad Batch’s ship, which had yet to be named despite her numerous _brilliant_ suggestions, while she waited to land. The thoughts of what could go wrong kept bouncing around in her head. Kisar knew that however many Cathar agreed to help them would make or break their mission. The fact that she once thought she could have done this alone baffled her in hindsight. 

“Commander.” 

She turned to see Tech standing in the doorway of her makeshift quarters. “What is it?”

“We’re just about to land on Cathar. Do you...do you need anything else?” The clone shifted awkwardly as he seemed to be asking if she was okay.

Kisar weakly smiled despite the tumultuous thoughts refusing to leave her brain. “I’ll be fine, Tech. Thanks.”

“Just let us know if you need anything, Commander. Even Crosshair would listen, you know.” 

Tech’s parting words made Kisar snort. Yeah right. Crosshair would laugh in her face if she ever went to him for emotional support and she wouldn’t go to any of the “nicer” Bad Batch members either because she didn’t know them.

She took a deep breath and stepped out of her room to be ready to exit the ship and step foot on the planet she had not been on since she was a baby. Did she have any surviving extended family or was everyone killed by the Mandalorians 12 years ago? Would her people be proud of what she was trying to do or would they be too fearful of the consequences of her actions?

The doors opened on the ship to reveal the main city of Cathar known as Basht. The capital was full of large traditional city-trees and also of modern skyscrapers. Kisar watched as her people walked around the city bedecked in various styles of clothing that signified their clan and original home region. Kisar felt a little shame at the realization that she herself did not know her own clan or home region.

A group of Cathar with individual patterns upon their luxurious clothing approached Kisar in the hangar. They looked to be important officials based on the quality of their robes and the confident way they walked. 

“Velcome home, Padavan Kisar. Your people are grateful to see their Jedi has returned.” A female official bowed her head in respect as her associates did the same. She had a typical accent common to native speakers of Catherese with her w’s pronounced as v’s and her r’s noticeably more rolled.

Kisar, despite spending so much time around Master Obi-wan, never really got the hang of interacting with royals, nobles, politicians, or civilians in general and consequently found herself at a momentary loss for words. She opened her mouth awkwardly and stuttered out, “Uh..t-thanks. I’m grateful to be here as well.”

Fortunately, the officials didn’t seem too bothered by her lack of decorum and carried on with their introduction. A Cathar man with a large rotund figure, a sure sign of his wealth and power given how hard it was for Cathar to be overweight, chuckled warmly and extended his hand in a more familiar form of greeting for Kisar’s sake. Once the Padawan hesitantly shook his hand, he began to speak in a grandiose manner.

“I am Chief Kolak of the Gold Steppe Clan. Ve have been expecting you to come here ever since you rejoined the Jedi Order. Your existence vas kept secret from us for your own safety vhen you vere a youngling so you can imagine our surprise vhen news of a Cathar Padavan Commander reached us all the vay out here.” 

“Ve thought ve had lost yet another Force-sensitive child vhen your village was viped out, Padavan.” A grim-faced Cathar male rumbled sadly. “Your village vas a part of the Blood Soil Clan, _my_ clan, my varriors did not get there in time to save any of you as the Mandalorians deliberately attacked us in various locations as a distraction. Mark my vords to the Goddess Bashta, I, Chief Grado of the Blood Soil Clan, vill look out for the last of your bloodline and settlement for the rest of my life as payment for my failure to prevent the slaughter of part of my clan.”

Kisar shuffled a bit uncomfortably at the intense statement. “You don’t have to do that. It wasn’t your fault, Chief Grado. We can work together to achieve justice for my village and for the _billions_ of Cathar that have lost their lives to a Mandalorian blade.”

The female official nodded sagely, “Ve vill indeed, Padavan Kisar. I am Chief Alla of the Mighty Rock Clan. The other Chiefs vill be here soon to pledge their loyalty to your cause as vell.”

It was Wrecker’s incredulous voice from behind Kisar that answered the female Chief, “You _all_ are going to help us?”

The gathered Chiefs gave feral smirks in response. 

Chief Grado cracked his knuckles as he rolled his neck in an aggressive manner, “There vas a time vhen ve vere so defeated physically and mentally by the Mandos that ve vouldn’t dare do this, now is not that time. Now, my teeth are itching to tear into their throats. My tongue and throat are thirsting for their blood. My ears feel empty and desire to be filled vith their terrified screams. My claws can barely keep themselves sheathed as they ache to puncture Mandalorian flesh. The Cathar are ready to regain our honor. Ve are ready to collect the blood payment over 3,000 years overdue.”

Kisar was both horrified and impressed by who was apparently her own Chief’s little speech. She could sense similar reactions from the Bad Batch behind her. Kaddak, of course, felt absolutely delighted by the show of blatant violent cravings- the psychopath.

Hunter stepped forward hesitantly and cleared his throat, “How many warriors do you think will be ready by the end of the week? Spar will likely head over here soon if he’s as smart as Commander Kisar and Kaddak claims.”

Chief Kolak belly shook with his chuckles, “Fear not, young man. Ve may have only just regained our strength as a united fighting force and are largely inexperienced, but there are some of us who have not spent their lives on Cathar who pick up the slack. The expulsion of Cathar from our home planet all those years ago vill come back to bite the Mandos in their beskar-clad asses.”

“Who could possibly be experienced enough to pick up that considerable slack?” Kisar snorted a bit rudely as she crossed her arms over her chest. They may have likely outnumbered Spar’s forces at that moment but that meant nothing compared to just how outclassed they were. Spar and his Mandos had seen battle and spilt plenty of blood from all kinds of enemies, most of the native Cathar had not seen battle despite their warrior nature and even those that did had only spilt the blood of other Cathar in clan disputes.

She froze in her disbelief when a voice that she never thought she would hear again growled jokingly from behind her. “So little faith in me, _peedunkey?_ I thought you knew better after all those times I saved your scrawny hide.” 

The Cathar Padawan felt like a little cub again as she slowly turned around to see the man the voice belonged to. 

Zoruk hadn’t changed all that much in the close to three years it had been since she last saw him and the rest of his Cathar group. He was still as massive and intimidating as ever but instead of his typical loincloth and light armor that he wore on Nar Shaddaa, the infamous former gladiator was covered head to toe in armor. The armor was a mix of brown, gold, and red covered in markings that announced him as a Cathar with no clan. His helmet covered his head and had two sharp looking protrusions that protected his large ears. It reminded her of a mix between what the clones wore and what the Zygerrians wore. 

He looked like the ancient Cathar warriors of old that first defeated the original wave of Mandos. 

She turned back around to gape at Kaddak as the Commando smirked and shrugged his large shoulders. “See what happens when the adults handle things, _Jet’ika_?” 

Maybe the Cathar would have a chance after all. 

***

Kisar sighed and plopped down on one of the branches of the large city-trees that she and the clones were placed in temporarily as the Cathar prepared to battle with Spar and fulfill the prophecy once and for all. She was more than aware of the fact that none of this would have happened without Kaddak’s smart thinking as he had contacted the Cathar Chieftains and every known Cathar colony he could find in order to gather more warriors.

“You never could have done this yourself, idiot.” The Cathar Padawan spat quietly to herself as she wiped away some tears from her eyes. 

“I think you could’ve had a decent shot at it.” Kaddak unexpectedly responded as he approached the dejected pre-teen. The rogue clone sat down beside her wordlessly and joined her in looking out into the city lights of Basht. “Hell of a planet, isn’t it?”

Kisar grunted in agreement as she swung her legs as they hung off the branch. They were high up and could easily fall to their deaths but the Cathar girl felt no fear from such a fate, it would have been a welcome reprieve from her current situation. 

“What do you mean by decent shot? We obviously need an army. You were right and I was wrong, Cody. Per usual.” She rolled her eyes as she muttered. 

“....Who’s Cody?” 

The Cathar Padawan’s eyes widened in shock when she realized her accidental slip, “Sorry! Force of habit.”

Kaddak was an intimidating and not particularly nice man, there was no doubt about that, but at that moment, his eyes were full of understanding and empathy instead of contempt. “He’s that Marshal Commander you always talk about, isn’t he?”

“Yeah.” Kisar mumbled as she looked away in embarrassment. “He...he always has a lecture for everything it seems. He’s always riding me about something. It’s his way of showing he cares, I guess.”

“Sounds like a good man who cares a lot.” Kad neutrally said aloud as he swung his own legs over the branch to dangle them as well.

“He does care. He just isn’t good at the whole affection thing.”

“You must be pretty close if the _affection_ thing is something you’ve noticed in the first place.” The Commando pointedly looked at her with a teasing glint in his brown eyes. 

Kisar bared her teeth and snarled lowly at him, “None of that is your business!”

“It is my business actually. You and everything connected to you became my business the moment you stepped foot on my ranch and dragged your tragic backstory with you.” 

“If I’m such a burden then why don’t you just go back to your ranch?” She hissed in response before making a move to stand up.

A firm hand on her shoulder kept her from rising from her sitting position as Kaddak barked out an order just like a clone officer would, “Sit down, trooper!”

The order had an instantaneous effect on Kisar as she practically dropped down like a dead weight onto the branch again. She gawked at the former Commando as he seemed to come to a conclusion and grunted in satisfaction. “Good. That explains it then. If you were a normal Jedi, that order wouldn’t have been quite as effective, but you’re not a normal Jedi are you, Kisar? You listen to Cody’s orders don’t you?” 

“He outranks me.” Kisar weakly defended even though she knew it wouldn’t really do anything. 

“On paper. Most of the Republic wouldn’t agree with what’s on paper. I’m sure you’ve seen how people react to how you treat the good Commander as an authority figure?” 

Kisar nodded reluctantly as memories of shocked nat-borns and even a few of her fellow Jedi as they witnessed how she, a Jedi, followed orders from a clone. It didn’t matter that Cody outranked her and had seniority. All that mattered was who was naturally born and who was grown in a lab. Most Jedi did not believe such close-minded ideas and had respectful relationships with the clones under their command but they did little to better the lives of the clones and defend them as well. 

_“How could we with how the Republic basically keeps us in a chokehold then blames us for when something goes wrong that we could’ve handled with more power? We used to actually be able to get things done but now it seems that both the Force and the Republic no longer respond to us.”_ Kisar thought bitterly as she fingered the grooves of the branch she sat upon with Kaddak.

“Why didn’t you let him help you go after Spar? Why did you go AWOL?” The man beside her quietly asked after a few minutes of tense silence.

“I already lost one family because of this stupid prophecy, Kad. I refuse to lose another even if it costs me my life.”

The gruff Commando sighed as he scratched at his chin, “Way I see it, _Jet’ika_ , you’re trying to protect your family, which is admirable, but you’re probably seriously hurting them in the process. They want to help you and you’re not letting them. _They want to protect you too_. You’re not alone here. You’ve got basically an entire species on your side as well as a highly trained battalion’s worth of clones and then some.”

Kisar struggled in denial under his tight grip but Kaddak wasn’t budging. With a huff, she gave up and settled for questioning the rogue clone. “Why are _you_ helping me then? You have no hat in this ring.”

“I want to help the galaxy become more equal for the sake of my enslaved brothers as well as any other slaves and oppressed peoples. Since that’s impossible, I’ll settle for fixing something planet by planet, conflict by conflict.” 

“So I’m just your pet project?”

He chuckled darkly and gave her a sharp-edged grin, “So quick to accuse aren’t you, _Jet’ika?_ Can’t seem to believe that your good ol’Uncle Kad just wants to help out of the goodness of his heart hmm?”

“First of all: I was taught to assume everyone is terrible until they prove otherwise. Second of all: I definitely don’t claim you as my uncle.” Kisar jabbed a finger at the smirking clone as his eyes danced with mirth at her expense.

“Since you’ve obviously got some sort of familial connection to this Cody and perhaps even more clones, I’m pretty sure that makes me your uncle now, squirt.”

Kisar huffed and finally got free from his grip by twisting her shoulder away just right even though she suspected he let her go himself anyways.

The clone wasn’t completely finished with their conversation and gave one last parting piece of advice before she made her way to her room to sleep, “Remember this, Kisar. You’re never alone no matter what you try to do. The fact that the Bad Batch and I were willing to fight the Mandos ourselves before we even thought to involve your people should prove that. I may not be the nicest clone around, but I sure as hell won’t let some youngling attack a _Manda’lor_ alone, us clones don’t believe in doing things alone. You’re one of us now so you’ll have to start believing that too.”

Kisar didn't respond and kept walking away trying to forget what he said. She left her men to protect them, why couldn’t anyone realize that? Kaddak must have not been serious when he said she was one of them now and therefore was under the same cultural rules. What could he know anyway? He went off alone too. 

Maybe that was because the Kaminoans gave him no choice? He truly does seem to have some compassion for his brothers.

She shook her head no at the thought. She was protecting her men and would do her best to protect her people too by preparing them as best as she could in what little time they had to train.

They would succeed and her family would finally be free of her burdens. 

She would make sure of it no matter what it cost her. 

**Translations**

_Jet’ika_ : little Jedi

 _Peedunkey_ : punk


	11. Chapter 11

After reuniting with Zoruk and a few of her old Cathar friends from Nar Shaddaa, Kisar felt like a little cub again. That was not exactly the best feeling to experience when she was on her way to Mandalorian space to kill a _Manda’lor_. 

Zoruk had informed her that Toruk, his son that she met on Zygerria, had found him in the Mid Rim and told him about how a Cathar Padawan that claimed to know him freed over a thousand slaves and directed Toruk to his father’s location. Zoruk had decided to return the favor to Kisar by helping her take down Spar just as she helped him reunite with his only child. He took some of his warriors and headed out to Cathar after being contacted by Kaddak.

The towering warrior and former guardian of Kisar had quickly reestablished himself as one of her “protectors” even though the Padawan was not nearly as defenseless as she was under his care years ago. That didn’t seem to matter to the former gladiator as he bluntly notified her that he wished he could have kept her safe in the Mid Rim just as he kept Toruk safe by leaving him behind. Obviously the man refused to accept that she could take care of herself, similarly to Cody and the 212th, Rex and Torrent Company, Wolffe and his Wolfpack, the Bad Batch, and now apparently the infamous Kaddak as well. 

Every time she tried to distance herself during training in order to better prepare her “guardians” of her inevitable fate to duel Spar and be put in significant harm’s way, her efforts were ignored and she was never unaccompanied for the few days spent training the Cathar on their home planet. Even the surly Crosshair never let her be alone though Kisar suspected that was more due to him wanting to irritate her than a desire to protect her. 

“Hey, Commander?”

She turned to see the large form of Wrecker as he awkwardly stood in the doorway of her temporary quarters within the Bad Batch’s ship. An entire fleet of Cathar ships filled to the brim with warriors accompanied them as they gradually neared the moon in Mandalorian space that Spar was rumored to inhabit.

“What is it, Wrecker?”

The clone shuffled shyly in a rather comical manner given his intimidating appearance and quietly asked, “I have a question about something.”

Kisar raised her furry eyebrows as she bemusedly responded, “What’s the question?”

“What’s it like to be in a real battle?” 

The Cathar Padawan felt the energy drain out of her at his question. She hated bringing shinies into battle. Kisar intimately remembered how terrified she was on Ryloth and never wanted to lead people to a situation where they would feel that same terror. She had no choice here, the Bad Batch made it clear that they weren’t going to leave her alone until her mission of killing Spar was completed. “Think of the worst feeling you ever experienced and then multiply that by ten, then you might get close to a fraction of the horror you feel in your first battle.”

The strongest member of the Bad Batch looked visibly disturbed by her answer. His usual energetic demeanor was dulled significantly from the realization of the hell he and his brothers were about to go through. 

Crosshair must have seen something was off with his brother even from a distance in the hallway- he was their sniper for a reason- because the pale clone approached his brother and the Jedi with a displeased look on his face.

“Just what the kriff are you trying to do to my brother by telling him that crap?” 

“I’m just trying to prepare him, Crosshair.” Kisar shrugged as she began to polish her lightsaber. The beskar hilt would be offensive to Spar as a Mandalorian who hated Jedi and she wanted to make it as shiny and noticeable as possible.

“How can scaring him help?” The sniper growled as he stepped in front of his alarmed brother protectively. Crosshair was not an overly affectionate man even around his squad, but anyone who knew him knew that he would hurt anyone who messed with his closest brothers. 

“In my first battle, the shock of just how terrible it was was one of my main problems as I tried to simply survive. I don’t want you or your brothers to die or get seriously hurt because you were taken off guard like I was.”

Crosshair stepped forward menacingly with a growl and Kisar tensed and grabbed the hilt of her lightsaber in an instinctive reaction. She wished she were more authoritative like Cody was at that moment. Everyone in the 212th knew that Commander Kisar didn’t really order anyone around very much as it made her uncomfortable. Cody always picked up her slack from her lack of leadership skills. Thanks to her own actions, Cody wasn’t there. Kisar had to take control of the situation herself.

The Cathar Jedi slowly stood up so that Crosshair would know she was serious and wouldn’t back down before calmly ordering, “Stand down, trooper.”

The clone didn’t budge.

Wrecker, seeing the tension between the two, grabbed his brother’s arm and dragged him away from Kisar before giving her a wide smile as he seemed to regain his usual confidence. “Thanks, Commander, but we’re different. We can handle a battle cause we can handle anything!”

He and his ornery brother left her alone on the ship after that and Kisar sighed and sadly mumbled to an empty room, “I really hope you’re right about that, Wrecker.”

***

It was almost poetic to have their battle on Concord Dawn as it was the home of the former _Manda’lors_ Jango Fett and Jaster Mereel. Spar had probably chosen the planet because of its relative distance from Mandalore as well as its populace’s strong ties and loyalty to the Fett Clan.

There was no better place to have the prophecy and the blood payment fulfilled for the sake of the Cathar. 

The damage Cassus Fett and his supporters and descendents had done would finally end.

“Ve’re ready vhen you are, Padavan.” Chief Grado announced beside her as they looked out onto the planet. She had joined the Cathar Chiefs on the largest ship the fleet had to act as the Cathar army’s leader just as the prophecy foretold. 

Kisar nodded slowly and turned to Kaddak on her right, “You’re sure you have his exact location?”

The rogue Commando snorted, “He may be the best of the best when it comes to being discreet, but I am too and I was taught the same tricks as him. Spar is down there, _Jet’ika_ , along with an entire army and fleet of experienced Mandalorian warriors.”

“Scared?” The Padawan managed to joke despite their situation.

“Not even close, squirt.” The clone responded while giving her a feral smirk as he placed his helmet upon his head. He had created some armor for himself that was close to what he used to wear as a Commando but different enough to avoid being mistaken for a Mandalorian by any Cathar warriors during battle. 

“I agree with him.” Zoruk chuckled behind them as he adjusted his traditional Cathar armor onto his body. Kisar and the rest of their warriors were similarly outfitted both to protect themselves and to make it known to the Mandalorians and the galaxy who they were and why they were there.

Kisar gave one last look to the several Chiefs around her to confirm that they and their warriors were indeed ready before activating her comm and announcing to the entire Cathar fleet, “The time for the Cathar to regain their honor is now! Let the whole galaxy hear our cries as we receive the blood payment from the remnants of Cassus Fett! TO BATTLE!”

Those around her roared in response, a sign of their maturity as warriors in Cathar culture, and descended upon Concord Dawn’s surface to Spar’s base. The sun was almost completely blocked out by the sheer size of the assembled Cathar fleet in a way that mirrored how Cassus Fett’s crusaders attacked their ancestors generations ago. 

Fortunately, for the sake of Kisar’s conscience, Spar’s base was far enough away from any civilian cities or towns that she wouldn’t have the blood of children or any other innocents on her hands. They were there to seek justice for the horrors Cassus Fett had inflicted on them, not turn around and do the same thing to Mandalorian families in revenge. 

She spotted familiar warships that belonged to the Mandalorian Supercommandos and directed the fleet from her spot in the command center to focus their attacks on those ships before they could get in the air and retaliate to their offense. 

A feeling of grim satisfaction overcame her as she watched most of her enemy’s ships get taken out with only a few left to be flown by the frantic Mandalorians. 

“Preparing for our ground assault, sir.” A young Cathar woman announced to Kisar as thousands of warriors in virtually every warship in the fleet began to enter smaller assault craft in order to attack the Mandos head on in an honorable and traditional fashion according to their warrior code. 

Kisar nodded to show she understood before joining Kaddak and Zoruk in a smaller shuttle. She glanced around to the other warriors surrounding her to memorize their faces before the real action occurred. They might have outnumbered the Mandos but Kisar recognized that Spar’s men were veterans who had fought together many times before. She had assembled an army, but it was an army that largely had no experience in open battle and never fought together before. She knew in her heart that many lives would be lost that day. The only thing she could do in response was to make sure that the Cathar would win this fight so that their deaths would not be in vain.

The doors to the shuttle opened to reveal a battle that had already begun with Cathar and Mandalorians clashing with an intense ferocity that ran deep through generations. 

The air smelt of blood and burning metal as she stepped off of the shuttle and ignited both sides of her lightsaber with Zoruk and Kaddak beside her. The Bad Batch had been ordered to attack from their own ship in order to take out any surviving Mandalorian pilots and prevent them from attacking the fleet. Kisar hoped that would keep them from the more gory parts of the battle. 

She turned to the Cathar gathered behind her and swung her lightsaber in a wide ark and pointed it at the Mandos in front of them, “Come on!”

They obeyed the orders of their champion Jedi without question and charged into the battle with an intimidating roar with Kisar leading them.

The Padawan injured or killed Mandalorian after Mandalorian as she tried to locate Spar in the fray. The _Manda’lor_ had yet to be spotted by her or any of the warriors under her command. Their advantage of outnumbering the Mandos was starting to wear off as more and more inexperienced Cathar fell. 

If she couldn’t find and kill Spar soon, they would lose.

Right when it seemed completely hopeless to Kisar, she heard a shout from some of her warriors as they pointed to three familiar Mandalorians heading towards them on jetpacks. 

Kisar narrowed her eyes at Spar, Tobbi Dala, and Fenn Shysa, the leaders of the Supercommandos. If she could take them out, the victory would be theirs. 

Zoruk and Kaddak both nodded their heads to Kisar to show that they would fight those deadly warriors with her as a team. She would engage Spar while they would attack Dala and Shysa. 

“We’ve got your back, _peedunkey._ ” Zoruk swore as he unsheathed a particularly nasty looking serrated blade and charged at Fenn Shysa. 

Kaddak began firing at Tobbi Dala as well which left Spar for Kisar to duel.

The chaos of the heated battle seemed to freeze when she locked gazes with her oldest and most dangerous enemy. Spar was just standing there, waiting for her to attack first. 

Kisar obliged him. 

She ran towards him with a fierce cry and swung her lightsaber in wide deadly strokes. The _Manda’lor_ managed to expertly dodge her swipes and responded with some jabs with a knife. The Cathar pre-teen found herself on the defensive as she did her best to avoid the precise blade’s movements towards her. 

She reluctantly backed away in order to avoid being stabbed which gave Spar the opening he needed to unleash a torrent of blaster fire from his dual pistols. 

Kisar cursed and began to block them as best as she could. She wasn’t nearly as good at deflecting blaster fire compared to her Master but she had been well-trained by Cody to be able to effectively avoid being shot from most blaster wielders. 

Spar, however, was a far better shot than most other blaster wielders and managed to clip Kisar’s thigh with a well-aimed bolt. The Padawan cried out in pain and dropped to her knees in an involuntary response. 

Spar took advantage of this and swiftly marched over to her and grabbed her lightsaber from her hands before she had the time to properly react. He analyzed the weapon with a disgusted scoff as he looked down at the glaring young Jedi.

“You insult us, _Jetii_. This beskar does not belong to you!” 

“It was a gift from the true leader of Mandalore!” Kisar snarled as she drew a blaster pistol and shot at the _Manda’lor_ numerous times in order to get him to back away. Spar did so with a growl and returned fire with his own pistols after dropping her lightsaber.

The Cathar Padawan masterfully dove behind the bodies of dead Mandalorians and Cathar alike to dodge the incoming blaster fire. She waited for him to need to reload just as Cody taught her before once again charging at the clone who called himself Mandalore the Resurrector.

This time, she succeeded in disarming Spar with a precise kick to the hand holding his knife. With his weapon now gone, the former ARC trooper decided to engage in hand-to-hand combat with her instead.

Kisar internally thanked Cody for the grueling training sessions he had put her through over the past couple of years as she managed to defend herself from her much larger opponent for some time. 

Spar managed to gain the upper hand by landing a brutal kick to her injured thigh and throwing the Padawan to the ground. He pressed his muddy boot hard into her throat as she gasped for air and clutched at his ankle weakly. “There is no one here to protect you now, _Jet’ika_. Your people are pathetic and are being slaughtered just as they were thousands of years ago. The Cathar are weak just like the Jedi!”

Kisar closed her eyes in pain and despair as she processed his words. She was running out of air and her brain wasn’t working right. She couldn’t think of any ways to get out of the humiliating hold Spar had on her. The skills she had carefully acquired in preparation for this moment were useless as both her mind and her body refused to cooperate. 

Suddenly, Kisar remembered a lesson she had had with Master Yoda years ago when she was still an Initiate. The ancient Jedi Master had taken over their class for the day in order to teach Dragon Clan the most important lesson of all for the Jedi: to trust in the Force. 

Kisar was a dedicated and extremely hardworking Jedi youngling who relied on her skills and natural talent for everything she did in training. Master Yoda had noticed this during the lesson and quietly hobbled over to her and tapped her leg with his cane.

_“Skilled you are, young Kisar, but bring success itself, skills do not. Trust in the Force always as fail you, your skills can, but the Force never will. To it, listen and surrender, as guides you, it does, and succeed you will.”_

She was rapidly losing consciousness from a lack of air and was injured heavily on one of her legs. If Kisar were to rely on herself and her skills at that moment, she would have surely failed just as Master Yoda told her. She needed to let the Force guide her.

She closed her eyes and let a familiar mantra take over her scrambled thoughts.

_I am one with the Force and the Force is with me._

_I am one with the Force and the Force is with me!_

_I AM ONE WITH THE FORCE AND THE FORCE IS WITH ME!_

Her eyes opened with renewed clarity as power filled her previously weak limbs and flowed throughout her entire body. She couldn’t even feel her burning lungs or her throbbing thigh anymore as she forcefully shoved Spar’s boot off of her throat with surprising strength.

The _Manda’lor_ stumbled back in shock at her unexpected recovery. 

The Jedi before him slowly rose back to her feet with impossible ease as she seemed to radiate energy and power. She effortlessly called her lightsaber back to her outstretched hand while maintaining eye contact with her opponent. “If we truly are so weak, Spar, this will be quite a dishonorable end for you.”

The Jedi then attacked him with a speed he had never encountered before. The formerly confident victor struggled to defend himself against the blue blur of lightsaber strikes focused on him.

Kisar felt as though she were being puppeteered by the Force as she continued to overwhelm the Mando with lightsaber swipes and jabs from both blades.

An opening was provided for her when the Fett _Manda’lor_ dropped his blasters after a particularly aggressive strike and allowed Kisar to swiftly drive one of her blades in a slicing motion through his neck to behead him in a finishing blow.

Spar’s body dropped and his head landed with a thump beside it on the blood soaked soil. 

It was over.

The battle raging around her mattered not to the Padawan as the power of the Force continued to thrum through her body as she gazed down at the defeated and bisected form of the man who had haunted her nightmares for years and terrorized her and the rest of the Republic. He died just as his progenitor did, beheaded in a soon to be losing battle.

She finally looked around her to see how the rest of the Cathar army was doing. Kisar was relieved to see that Kaddak and Zoruk had also defeated their opponents and were gazing at her with awe. She nodded to them with an elated smile to confirm that she had indeed won before picking up Spar’s head and removing the Mandalore’s Mask.

Kisar held up the helmet and let out a victorious roar that echoed across the battlefield as her warriors realized the prophecy had been fulfilled. 

In Cathar culture, a young Cathar’s first roar is a sign of them coming of age and becoming a true warrior. Kisar knew then that she may have still been young, but she was no longer a cub at that moment. She had just become a genuine warrior.

She turned back to the horrified Mandalorian Supercommandos as they processed the deaths of their _Manda’lor_ and his lieutenants. Their leadership and order were gone. Their advantage over the Cathar dwindled into nothingness.

Kisar thrust her lightsaber into the air to call her warriors to charge one last time as they wiped out the remaining Mandalorians.

The battle was finished in under an hour after the death of the Fett _Manda’lor_.

After thousands of years, the Cathar had regained their honor due to Kisar’s actions. 

The prophecy had been fulfilled. 

** Translations **

_Jetii:_ Jedi

 _Peedunkey:_ Punk

 _Jet’ika:_ little Jedi


	12. Chapter 12

Cody knew Kisar would come back. He had done everything in his power to ensure it. What he could not have predicted was just how changed the kid would be once she returned.

The news of Spar’s death at their Jedi’s hands significantly cheered up the 212th Attack Battalion. They knew that their Jedi was safe and that the man who killed so many of their brothers was gone for good. 

Intense pride swelled up in the chests of the members of the 212th as they walked around with pulled back shoulders and smug grins. At that time, the only other Jedi who had killed a  _ Manda’lor _ was General Windu. However, Jango Fett was a former leader of Mandalore, and therefore, according to the 212th, did not really count which meant that  _ their _ Jedi was the only one to bear the name, Mandalore-Slayer.

Of course, their pride did not diminish the anxiety and frustrated anger that they felt after Kisar had left. Cody’s men had been gloomy and irritable ever since she went AWOL to go after Mandalore the Resurrector. He had heard quite a few of his brothers plan how to “discourage” their Jedi Commander from doing such a thing again the past few months. Cody did his best to calm them down so that they didn’t do anything stupid, but he had also quietly nodded along with some of their less extreme plans. 

Gregor had at least been a great help in keeping the troops under control. The Commando Captain had sternly cut off any talk of kidnapping, deserting, confinement, and even slaughtering the Mandalorians themselves as a battalion. He too, was just as ready as his men were to “discourage” any future acts of selfless stupidity but knew better than to act on his desires. Both Captain and Commander had to keep a cool head by reminding themselves that their involvement would only worsen the situation. Their involvement in preventing a situation from happening again in the first place, however, was still very much on the table for the 212th.

The rest of Foxtrot was pretty close to saying “Kriff the consequences!” and stunning Kisar and shipping her off to some safe farm on a sleepy, rural planet. They had been frothing at the mouths and pacing back and forth ever since she had left. Gregor had done his best to control them, but riled up Commandos were near impossible to manage as always. 

“You hear if she’s arriving at the Jedi Temple or somewhere else, sir?” Wooley questioned quietly beside the contemplative Cody. The trooper had matured so much in his abilities and personality over the years and had become one of Cody’s finest soldiers. He had hardened as a veteran as the war continued but always had a soft spot for the kid. The two had entered Ryloth as shinies and left as veterans together. They had only grown closer over the years.

“I don’t know, Wooley. All I have heard is that she is arriving today.” The Marshal Commander sighed and shook his head in frustration. A selfish part of him wished she would go to the barracks first instead of the Jedi Temple. A more realistic part of him knew that her official duties were to the Jedi first and that such blatant favoritism of her men over the Jedi would raise some red flags for the Jedi Council. 

“She’ll sneak away to us if she needs to, sir. We already know she has no problem with being places she shouldn’t be.” Wooley joked with a lopsided smirk as he placed a hand upon his older brother’s shoulder in comfort.

Cody chuckled and clasped his brother’s shoulder in return before the two continued back to the 212th barracks. 

They had to be ready for their Jedi to come home, afterall. 

***

Kisar’s knees were bouncing up and down nervously as she sat and waited to land on Coruscant. 

Chief Grado offered her a ride to the Republic’s capital. He had taken a few of the ships in good enough shape after the battle to escort her back to her home.

Kaddak, Zoruk, and the Bad Batch were also accompanying her as she returned. 

The fact that Zoruk and the Bad Batch were willing to go back to Coruscant for her was not very surprising but the fact that Kaddak, a man who hated the Republic, would be willing to escort her was unbelievable. 

She had voiced her shock and confusion to the rogue Commando on many occasions on their trip to Coruscant. He had simply waved off her questions and accusations and ambiguously answered that he had, “Someone to talk to,” on Coruscant and knew this was his chance to do so. 

With that unhelpful answer plaguing her mind along with the fact that she was finally returning back home to the Jedi and her family, Kisar had a difficult time relaxing.

She wasn’t alone in her misery either.

The entire Bad Batch had been touchy ever since they had had their first battle. Kisar had done her best to lesson the psychological damage by assigning them to take to the skies instead of fighting the Mandos face to face but they still seemed a bit shell shocked.

The previously confident squad of Commandos were stunned silent as they seemed to aimlessly go about their days. Kaddak, for all that he liked to antagonize his younger brothers for their loyalty to the Republic, had done an admirable job of checking up on them and making sure they were eating and getting as much sleep as possible.

Zoruk had in turn done his best to make sure Kisar was doing the same thing. She had meditated for almost half of the time on the way back to Coruscant and therefore forgot to eat sometimes. The Cathar warrior did not appreciate her forgetfulness and had literally grabbed her and force fed her on several occasions. If she wasn’t so frustrated with his actions, she would’ve mocked the former gladiator for his mother-hen behavior.

They were almost to Coruscant now and Kisar didn’t know if she was relieved or fearful of going back home.

Cody was either going to hug her or kill her.

Maybe even both.

***

Cody couldn’t decide whether he was going to kill the kid or hug her. Maybe he could do both by hugging her and squeezing her tight enough?

The moment he got the notification that Commander Kisar had returned to the Jedi Temple carrying the Mandalore’s Mask with her, he had swiftly informed his men to be ready for her arrival to their barracks. 

Kisar was likely going to have to have a lengthy “discussion” with the Jedi Council upon her arrival, but Cody suspected she would be accepted back into the Jedi ranks. After all, they were well aware of the prophecy and its fulfillment and knew the motivations behind her temporarily leaving the Jedi and the Republic. Besides, if Kisar wasn’t accepted into the Jedi Order again, Keeja had offered to have her stay with her in the shop so that the former Commander could still see her men.

It had been over half of a Coruscant day before the vigilant Marshal Commander spotted his Jedi on the city’s horizon. She was accompanied by a man in familiar looking armor. Cody narrowed his eyes once he recognized the height and gait of the man. The same height and gait he and almost all of his brothers had. Kisar was with a clone and not one he assigned to her. How did she find someone else or how did someone else find her?

The pair became more visible as they drew closer and Cody could make out the strange armor they wore. It reminded him a bit of Zygerrian armor except it actually looked useful and covered their entire bodies similarly to clone armor. It probably was Cathar armor. That didn’t explain why the clone was with Kisar still. 

“You’re finally back then.” He greeted them with raised eyebrows once Kisar was right in front of him. 

The Padawan winced and meekly nodded, “Yes, sir.”

The clone beside her hadn’t taken his helmet off yet but watched their conversation with obvious interest. 

Cody grunted with thinly veiled anger, “Do you have any idea how much pain you’ve put us all through by leaving?”

The usually confident Cathar girl shrunk even further down under his furious gaze and mumbled out. “No, sir. I just wanted to protect you.” 

She reached behind her and grabbed something out of a worn backpack. Cody’s breath caught when he saw that it was the Mandalore’s Mask. A piece of history whose bearers have brought intense change into the galaxy for better or for worse in honor of their deity,  _ Kad Ha'rangir _ . In the Cathar’s case, it had always been for the worse. 

He watched in disbelief as the kid slowly extended the ancient helmet to him in a peace offering. “It’s done, Cody. I did it. My people are now safe and have regained their honor. My  _ family _ is now safe from the Mandalorians. I brought you the Mandalore’s Mask as a gift. I hope this gift will also bring you honor and make up for my absence and disrespect to you and the rest of the 212th.”

Cody nodded silently as he reached out to grab the infamous helmet. As a clone, to be able to touch something so historically influential and important was inconceivable. Despite that, an estranged brother of his, Spar, had worn it and became a  _ Manda’lor _ just as their progenitor was. Was it really so hard to imagine being just as powerful and free? He had more skills, experience, and knowledge than all of the nat-born officers already, he could be so much more than a mere Commander and rise above what the Kaminoans and the Republic confined him to just as Spar did. 

He broke from those thoughts to look back at his Jedi, his  _ kid _ . According to the Kaminoans, their relationship was completely wrong because he was a clone and didn't have the emotional capabilities to love. But he knew that she was his to care for and watch out for as a father would even if it was an unspoken commitment. 

The mask in his hands became meaningless in his hands as he gazed at the most important thing in the galaxy to him. They were right next to a big drop off into the underworld of Coruscant so he wordlessly threw the ancient helmet into the chaotic abyss and stepped closer to the now gaping Padawan. 

He wrapped his arms around her armored body and felt the tension that had been building up for months finally release as he felt her chest rise and fall. Kisar was alive. She was okay. That was all that mattered to him. Not some old Mando bucket. “The greatest gift in honor is having you for a daughter.” 

Cody felt her chest heave a few times as she sobbed that she was sorry multiple times against his own armored chest. He simply shushed her and rocked her gently in response to show she was forgiven.

The two Commanders stayed like that for a few minutes before the clone that was with Kisar cleared his throat awkwardly. “Sorry to break up the touching moment here, squirt, but I’d like to have a private word with your Cody for a moment.”

To Cody’s surprise, the kid listened to the other clone’s request and let go of him and walked inside of the barracks to no doubt reunite with the rest of the 212th. The Marshal Commander scoffed in disbelief before turning back to his unfamiliar brother and crossing his arms in a defensive pose. “So what’d you need to talk about,  _ brother? _ ” 

The clone chuckled lowly before reaching up and taking off his helmet to reveal a scarred and clean shaven face identical to his own. He had a light dusting of black hair on the top of his head similar to Rex’s blonde haircut. There was nothing different enough about this clone to reveal who he was or what he was doing with Kisar. “You’ve got a hell of a kid there, Cody. You should be proud.”

“I am. But why were you with her in the first place? I did not assign you.”

“Commander Cody, you misunderstand. No one assigns a man like me to anything.” 

Cody leaned forward with suspicion, “And  _ what _ exactly is a man like you?”

“I was a Commando, a  _ slave _ . The long-necks tried to lock me up and study me but I broke free. I helped the kid on my own free will.” The man responded with a lopsided smirk.

Cody frowned in thought at his answer. A former Commando locked up by the Kaminoans? He knew that story. He knew Kisar knew that story as well since she had heard the same rumors and legends of the infamous Kaddak, the man who killed his own trainer and went insane. If she wised up enough to realize she couldn’t have defeated Spar alone, Kisar would’ve sought the help of someone who had experience with Mandalorians and preferably had killed one before. She therefore sought Kaddak’s help and for some reason the legendary clone agreed. “You’re Kaddak, aren’t you?” 

The clone in front of him nodded slowly.

“Then why did you even help the kid in the first place? You said it yourself that you’re not a slave and don’t take orders from anyone. Do you hate Mandos that much?”

Kaddak rolled his eyes condescendingly at the Commander’s questions, “No. I just hated my trainer. I helped the kid because I’ve been striving to make the galaxy better for when my brothers are freed.”

“What makes you think that’ll ever happen?” 

“I’ll ensure it if I have to.” The rogue Commando seemed resolute in his convictions.

Cody didn’t have the energy to argue about such things so he threw out a lifeline for them both, “What did you want to talk about then?”

Kaddak rolled his powerful shoulders and cracked his neck, “I wanted to let you know that I already sent the Bad Batch off to Kamino once we arrived in Coruscant’s orbit in order to avoid suspicion.” 

“That wasn’t all you wanted to talk about, was it?”

The ex-Commando shook his head no but remained silent.

Cody was losing his patience. The Marshal Commander stepped forebodingly closer to his brother, “And what was the other thing?”

“Someone needs to look at this war from an outside perspective, Cody. So many things don’t add up with our existence. Kisar claimed that the Jedi didn’t even know about us until right before the war began. I’ve been thinking about it since and I don’t like the explanations I’ve come up with so far. I have a bad feeling the reason why we were made will be revealed soon and in a nasty way.”

Cody hadn’t expected to hear such shocking news from the former Commando but internally agreed that their existence didn’t make that much sense. Something was definitely wrong. 

Kaddak hummed in apparent satisfaction after seeing how Cody took his explanation. The rogue clone firmly grasped the Commander’s shoulders and gave his brother a grim smile, “I suspect you’ll be looking into this too. I don’t blame you since you seem like the kind of smart man to be able to figure it out. Be careful about how you go about this though, Commander. I don’t doubt that someone high up in the Republic or maybe even in the Jedi knows more than what they let on.”

Cody nodded and stroked his chin as his strategic mind already began to sort through potential elucidations. 

“Oh, and Cody?” Kaddak interrupted his thoughts with a feral grin. “Make sure to let Kisar know that her good ol’Uncle Kad is going to be keeping an extra attentive eye on her, would ya? Maybe that’ll deter her from pulling a stunt like overthrowing a burgeoning Mandalorian empire again.”

Before Cody could respond to that, the Commando hopped down into the nearby opening to the lower levels and disappeared. 

The Commander merely rolled his eyes at the familiar flare for dramatics that seemed endemic amongst Commandos and other special forces clones before turning around and heading back to the barracks to see how his men reacted to Kisar’s return.

When he made it inside, Cody was greeted with the amusing sight of the kid being passed around from clone to clone in the 212th to either be berated, embraced, or both. Kisar had a look of pure joy and relief on her face even while she was yelled at by her men because she knew that she was back home with her family where she belonged. 

Cody smiled as he watched Foxtrot begin to ruffle her mane playfully and prod at her Cathar armor with teasing remarks about its look and style. 

The concerning revelations from Kaddak were temporarily forgotten by the Commander as he joined his brothers in celebrating the return of their Jedi for the rest of the night. 

When Cody woke up the next day, the revelations were not so easily forgotten.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the nod to Mulan with Cody and Kisar. I realized how similar Mulan and Kisar were in the middle of writing this and decided to include the exchange between Mulan and her father at the end of the movie.
> 
> This is the end of this part of the series and the next part will be called, "For Freedom" and will include a lot more from Cody's perspective than this part did. It will focus on the last year of the war and Order 66.


End file.
